Viktor Hovland splits with instructor again, has actually had two fractures this year

Viktor Hovland is the boss of his own swing.

As he prepares to (hopefully) compete in The Sentry, Hovland told Norsk Golf that he has again split with swing instructor Joe Mayo.

“I no longer work with Mayo,” Hovland said to the Norwegian outlet. “We ended that collaboration about a month ago. … I don’t need to go into detail about it, but we disagreed a bit about the way forward, what’s best for me.”

Hovland started working with Joe Mayo in 2023, though they first parted ways after Hovland won the FedExCup that August, only to reunited prior to this year’s PGA Championship. Hovland also worked this year with coaches Grant Waite and Dana Dahlquist, and he said he’s currently sending videos to “another coach” in a consulting capacity.

“I feel like I’ve learned so much now and have so much expertise, that I don’t need anyone holding my hand anymore,” Hovland said.

Hovland is coming off a year in which he didn’t win a tournament for the first time since turning pro in 2019 – Hovland revealed a stress fracture in his right pinky finger, which forced him to take a couple weeks off after the Tour Championship – and he played just 17 events in 2024, six fewer than he did the year prior.

But he still advanced to East Lake last fall and remains inside the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, at No. 8, to begin this new season.

“It steals so much energy to compete when the technical aspects are not right,” Hovland said. “The coincidences make the game merciless, and then I would rather go home and practice. … And yet, I came close to winning my first major this year. It taught me that my game doesn’t have to be perfect.”

As for this week, Hovland isn’t just dealing with some calcium buildup around the cartilage in that injured finger, which Hovland says has left the finger “a bit exposed,” he also is nursing a fractured toe, and injury that he suffered last week.

Hovland initially shared an x-ray image of the fractured right little toe, and he explained to Norsk Golf that the injury occurred in his hotel room in Hawaii. He’d fallen asleep with the lights and his travel clothes still on, and when he awoke to turn off the lights and undress, he accidentally stubbed his toe on the corner of the bed. A trip to the emergency room revealed the fracture, which Hovland says will take four to six weeks to fully heal.

After hitting some balls barefoot while trying to take the strain off his injured foot, Hovland says the pain is lessening and he’ll wait until Thursday to decide whether he will play at Kapalua or withdraw.

“It’s not ideal,” Hovland said. “But adversity builds character, and we all need a few punches in the face every now and then.”