The 2023 FedEx Cup champion is perhaps the game’s fastest ascending star. Not only did Viktor Hovland bag the $18 million bonus for his Tour Championship and FedEx Cup victories on Sunday, he earned more than $33 million in on-course earnings on the season.
He’s been a stud at the majors the past two years, too—going toe to toe with Brooks Koepka at the PGA this year and playing in the final group with Rory McIlroy at the Old Course, plus top 10s at this year’s Masters and the past two Players Championships. Unreal stuff.
Beyond the cash, we’ve gotten to know the 25-year-old star more through his successes—and it’s clear he’s a shockingly humble kid who loves golf. Among the countless examples of his approachability, we enter another entry:
This year, Golf Digest contributor Rick Gehman organised a high-stakes fantasy golf league with a live draft in Las Vegas. Eight of us from the industry gathered to draft teams of tour players for the season. Rick has gotten to know Hovland a little bit through mutual friends, so he texted the Norwegian and asked him to make a little video to congratulate whichever team drafted him in the league.
In five minutes, Hovland had created a brief video to thank the fantasy team owner for drafting him. I’m sure the youngster gets requests like this all the time from buddies, but for him to do this for Rick was really cool. It was the type of surprise that made our in-person draft even more special.
By the way, he was drafted in the No. 7 spot by Scott Blumstein, the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event winner. There’s zero chance he’ll make it to the seventh-overall spot in drafts next season.
