Viktor Hovland is quite the character.
The 2023 FedEx Cup champion recently completed the best season of his career. He’s on the Ryder Cup team for the second time, sitting at fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking before the biennial competition at Marco Simone in Rome, Italy.
He still lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma, home of Oklahoma State, which led to a great soundbite about how his $18 million FedEx Cup prize could go a long way in his college town.
Hovland is also a fan of heavy metal music. And during the practice rounds at Marco Simone in Rome, his European teammates took turns listening to his favorite song.
Ryder Cup: Tournament hub | Practice round photos
The reactions? Priceless.
“Sounds like the devil,” Rory McIlroy said. “That’s like the most horrific thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“I’m going to have to have a conversation with him, I think,” added Sepp Straka.
“That’s not even music,” Matt Fitzpatrick said. “That’s horrendous.”
“What is wrong with Viktor?” asked Jon Rahm.
“That’s brutal.” Robert MacIntyre added.
“Yeah, I’ve heard enough,” Ludvig Aberg said. “It’s absolutely terrible.”
And Tyrrell Hatton summed up their thoughts best: “I think you’ve played that for like 15 seconds too long there.”
Meanwhile, Justin Rose knocked out an epic air drums solo.
Hovland thinks his teammates just need to give the song time to grow on them.
“It’s just super chaotic, but the more you listen to it, you find the rhythm and the beats, and it kind of comes together and makes sense,” Hovland said.
Check out the incredible video below.
Team Europe reacting to Viktor Hovland’s favourite song
#TeamEurope pic.twitter.com/yNledld2B0
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 27, 2023