Viktor Hovland shot a final-round 65 at TPC Toronto to finish third at the RBC Canadian Open, two shots behind winner Bud Cauley. It is his best result on the PGA Tour since March 2025.
Hovland won the 2025 Valspar Championship by one stroke over Justin Thomas, ending a nearly two-year winless drought that followed one of the best seasons in recent Tour history. In 2023, he won the Memorial Tournament, the BMW Championship, and the Tour Championship, claiming the FedEx Cup and reaching a world ranking of No. 3.
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Since that peak, the 28-year-old Norwegian has largely been searching. He has zero wins in 2026, just two top-10 finishes on the season, and has slipped to No. 28 in the world. He missed the cut at the Valspar Championship and the PGA Championship this season and withdrew from the Memorial Tournament for undisclosed reasons. He also parted ways with swing coach Grant Waite earlier this year, his latest coaching change in a carousel that has defined the last two seasons.
The driver has been the central issue. Hovland ranked 98th on Tour this season in strokes gained off the tee, averaging 301.6 yards, 104th in driving distance. At last year’s U.S. Open, he put it plainly. “Just can’t seem to figure it out,” he said. “It’s like a lingering problem all this year, so it’s kind of pissing me off.” CBS analyst Johnson Wagner was equally blunt in March. “I’m very concerned about Viktor Hovland,” Wagner said. “He is just always searching for something. I just wish he could be content and work on the same thing over and over.”
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On Sunday at TPC Toronto, the searching gave way to something more familiar. Hovland ranked among the best in the field in approach play and strung together four consecutive birdies on the back nine, including a long putt on the 16th hole. It was the kind of golf that made him the best player in the world for a stretch in 2023.
Hovland tees off at Shinnecock Hills on Thursday looking to build on the best week he has had in over a year.
