Defending champ Viktor Hovland ‘shocked’ by East Lake redesign

Norway’s Viktor Hovland will have plenty of memories from winning the 2023 Tour Championship as he begins his defense of the FedEx Cup title this week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. However, there are aspects he might prefer to forget. The course at East Lake has undergone significant changes, which, while well-documented, didn’t fully register with Hovland until he played the front nine during a practice round on Monday.

“I was kind of shocked,” Hovland admitted on Tuesday, referring to the changes made under the direction of renowned golf-course architect Andrew Green. “It looks nothing like it used to.” Green, who has also overseen renovations at major tournament venues like Oak Hills Country Club’s East Course in Rochester, N.Y., and Congressional Country Club’s Blue Course in Bethesda, Md., has now left his mark on East Lake, redefining its classic tree-lined design.

If Hovland had discovered any secrets while cruising to a five-shot victory over Xander Schauffele last year, their relevance is questionable now. His 7-under-par 63 in the final round last year was the lowest score ever recorded by the winner at the Tour Championship, with Schauffele also excelling with a 62 on the same day.

Hovland’s fondness for East Lake’s classic layout is understandable. He acknowledged that the course “looks pretty good” if he were seeing it for the first time. “But just from being here four or five times before and just remembering what it used to be, I just think it was a way more kind of simplistic golf course before, but it was still — it was simple, but it was very, very good. I’m still a little bit biased towards what it used to be,” he said.

After moving tee locations, removing a significant number of trees, and adding bunkers, Hovland said East Lake now resembles “a major championship golf course.” He added, “In my heart, it’s like, East Lake never had that (major championship) look, and it’s such a historic place. It’s like, should we really try to make East Lake look like a major championship golf course? That’s kind of the only place I’m at. But I don’t think he’s done a bad job. It’s just the style of it.”

Hovland is also concerned about his form this season. After winning three times on the PGA Tour last season, he has yet to win a tournament in 2024 and has only two top-10 finishes. However, he is currently ranked 17th in the FedExCup standings and holds the No. 8 spot in the world rankings. He advanced to this week’s Tour Championship by finishing tied for 26th at last week’s BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colo., ending at 2 under par.

“What’s really cool is that I’ve still made it to this week playing what I felt like is absolute garbage,” Hovland said. “I think that’s something that’s pretty cool to kind of have in my back pocket is that OK, we can struggle and we can still come out here and have a chance to win tournaments.”

Last year, Hovland entered the final round at East Lake with a conservative mindset, trying to play a “boring” round to secure the win. However, Schauffele’s impressive play forced him to adjust his strategy. This year, there will be nothing boring about playing on what is essentially a brand new course in Atlanta.

“I wouldn’t say East Lake ever had a lot of strategy off the tee before,” Hovland said. “It was always kind of tree-lined fairways, narrow fairways, and you had an occasional bunker here and there. But usually, you either hit driver or 3-wood, and you have to hit it straight. I really do appreciate that kind of golf because I think trees really add a lot to the strategy of the golf course. … I do think Andrew has done a great job with positioning certain bunkers in there. You really have to think, ‘OK, well, if I want to cover this bunker, I have to worry about the next bunker and what kind of angle I’m getting in there?’ I think he’s done a pretty good job with that.”