Viktor Hovland confirms equipment rumour on eve of 2025 Masters

Viktor Hovland has revealed he'll have a new driver in play for the 2025 Masters Tournament. 

Hovland told reporters during his news conference on Tuesday he's happy with where his iron game is at heading into the first men's major of the year.

And he believes that he's starting to swing the big stick a tad better lately and is not getting as many toe or heel strikes. 

Therefore, he reached out to PING last week to see if he could to some testing. 

He already hit their new drivers at the start of the year, he said, but felt their was little point to testing given how he was swinging the club. 

"Now that my swing got in a better spot, I wanted to give it another go," Hovland said.  

He has settled on the G440 model with a Fujikura Ventus 'Velocore' black driver shaft. 

"I guess that new shaft is a little bit stiffer at the bottom, and with the G440, it's way more forgiving," Hovland added.

"So the heel strikes and the toe strikes I'm able to keep the ball speed up compared to the other mis-hits. 

"And the spin is just way tighter. If I hit it off the toe, it doesn't drop down to 1,700; and if I hit it off the heel, it doesn't go to 3,200."

Hovland said he is excited about the tighter dispersion he has already seen. 

"It'll be exciting to see how it goes out there," Hovland said. 

"I'm back to my old gamer"

Hovland has also been tinkering with his putter in recent months. 

But he has settled on his PLS DS-72 Prototype. 

"I went back to just the old gamer that I've always had" he said.  

"I think it's nice to experiment a little bit, but then I realized it wasn't -- definitely wasn't the putter's fault. 

"I just hadn't put too much time on the putting green."

Hovland said he's been more consistent with his putting practice and gaining confidence as a result. 

"I think I got that question answered that my usual gamer is good enough," he said. "And I've just got to stick with that."

The Norwegian, 27, has been handed a 14.47pm BST tee time on Thursday alongside Xander Schauffele and Adam Scott. 

GolfMagic will be bringing you live updates from the 2025 Masters.