Palm Harbor, Fla. — Viktor Hovland is looking for his swing and found himself competing at the Valspar Championship on Friday. There, Jacob Bridgeman has a one-shot lead and many others are entering the weekend in Innisbrook.
Bridgeman was among several players on the leaderboard on an unseasonably chilly day, until the copper head course would one day return. He had a two-shot lead from 4 feet on the 18th hole until he lost a putt. It gave him a 2 under 69.
Bridgeman was 136 under and was in two rounds.
Hovland (67), Byeong Hun An (67) and Ryo Hisatnun (66) were their first shotbacks, including a large group of 4-under 138, as well as Shane Laurie and Xander Schauffele.
The surprise is a surprise in itself, considering he won the FedEx Cup two years ago, and despite finishing eighth in the world last year, it’s a surprise.
Hovland cares “how much” more about “how many” than “how many” in golf, and the Norwegian star is pleased to find the answer regardless of his score. The latest search was revealed by the Coach’s revolving door.
He went back for the second time to grant weights. He will be in the final group on Saturday. It’s a mystery even to him how far he is in the process.
“I still don’t know exactly where the ball starts and where everything starts,” Hofland said. “But if you’re hitting solid shots, it’s a good start, here and here, especially when the wind starts to blow.
He shot 80 in the opening round of the athletes championship, so that’s it.
This is the first time Hovland has made 36 holes since Scotland opened last July. Other tournaments were uncut signature events or playoff events for the FedEx Cup. He played well at times, including his runner-up finish in last year’s playoff opener.
He sees a good shot and then wants a good result. He will sometimes get good results, and the search continues.
“You wake up every day and just stand on the ball and expect it to start in that direction, go in that direction and get close to the hole,” Hofland said. “It starts to stop doing that. It’s pretty frustrating. You start thinking about things you’ve never thought of before.”
He has the opportunity before him in Innisbrook, along with many companies.
Laurie got off to a fierce start in the cold weather, finishing with six birdies 69 on the back nine of 67 and just two bogeys of 69.
“I played those nine holes pretty perfectly, but I really didn’t miss many shots,” Laurie said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good with the other nine, but I think it’s 4 under the day like today. I think I’d have taken it this morning in the locker room.”
Schauffele has cut that number in the past two weeks. This is his first race in two months due to a rib injury. He has also been doing 81 and 77 shot rounds since coming back, which he realized is much more difficult than he had imagined.
More than making a cut, his hope for Innisbrook was to “connect” with Reed. He’s only two people in a few months who have the first time they’ve felt the pressure of a weekend.
“This is one of the places where you can get away from you right away. Or you can be hanging out there. Your name is there later on Sunday,” Schaufele said. “So I’m just trying to play golf.”
There were a lot of drama in the cut line. It fell to 2 over 144. Most people were Adam Scott, birding two of the last three holes to numbers.
Again, Scott and the other 12 players would have missed the cut for Neil Shipley. He needed a par on the 18th hole in the final group to keep the cut above one. Shipley finds a bunker from the tee and misses par’s 15 footer.
The difference between the final place and Bridgeman was just eight shots.