"I'm hard on myself but that's why I'm good" PGA Tour star Viktor Hovland bouncing back at Valspar

Viktor Hovland has been searching for just about anything to be positive about with his game over the past 12 months, but the PGA Tour superstar finally appears to have found something as he enters the weekend at the Valspar Championship in contention for a first title in 18 months.

Hovland, 27, has endured a wretched run of recent form on the PGA Tour with four missed cuts in his last five starts.

Once third in the Official World Golf Rankings, Hovland has slipped to an unthinkable 19th in a short space of time. 

Hovland recently went as to far to claim he 'sucked' at the game.

At the turn of the year, Hovland told reporters he made a mistake trying to pursue a swing change that would help him draw the ball. 

He's also been chopping and changing swing coaches.

Hovland confirmed he had parted ways for a second time with long-time swing coach Joe Mayo earlier in the season, before then sycing up with TJ Yeaton at the Dubai Desert Classic in January. 

But that didn't last too long and Hovland has now reportedly started working much closer with former PGA Tour pro Grant Waite. 

Hovland's swing has thankfully been behaving itself so far thru 36 holes at the Valspar Championshi, at a great time too given it's now three weeks until golf's first major of the season at The Masters. 

Hovland has carded rounds of 70 and 67 to move to 5-under par at the feared Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Florida. 

The Norweigian now finds himself in the final group on Saturday alongside 36-hole leader Jacob Bridgeman (6-under par). 

Hovland has a golden chance to turn his fortunes around by picking up a seventh PGA Tour title and his first since clinching the Tour Championship tp win the FedEx Cup in September 2023. 

The road back to the top has been extremely tough though, admits Hovland, who has beaten himself up multiple times over his poor recent play on the PGA Tour. 

"Yeah, it sucks," Hovland told reporters after the second round of the Valspar Championship. 

"You have an ability that you can almost sometimes take for granted. You just wake up every day and you stand over the ball, and you just expect the ball to start in that direction and go that direction and end up somewhere close to the hole. 

"Then it starts to not do that, it's pretty frustrating. You start thinking things you've never thought before, and this game becomes infinitely more challenging and it's already really challenging. 

"So it is really humbling and, you know, kind of handling those moments, I mean, I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned there, and now that hopefully I can regain my ability and see those shots again, hopefully I can be in a better spot where I can handle that situation better."

Hovland added: "I am hard on myself, yeah, but that's also why I'm good. If I wasn't hard on myself I probably wouldn't be out here. And yeah, I know that even with terrible mechanics I can still get out here and shoot a couple of nice scores. But that can also lead to 80 shots at The Players. Because it's just, I don't have control over what I'm doing. 

"So you get to a place where there's water and trees on every hole, those same shots that might be in the fairway or might be in the rough at an easier golf course, you know, in the long run it's going to cost you. I just, I know that. If I'm standing over the ball and I'm expecting it to start there, everything in my golf swing is feeling like it's going to start there, but it starts there and goes to the right, you know, you can't play with that.

" I don't care who you are, you're just not going to be able to make that work. So, yeah, you have to be that honest and get to work."

Keep up to speed with live scores from the Valspar Championship here