Viktor Hovland Withdraws From RBC Heritage After Disappointing Masters Performance

Viktor Hovland has withdrawn from next week's RBC Heritage after he missed the cut following a nightmare second-round display at The Masters.

Hovland, who won the FedEx Cup last year, has struggled for form since the turn of the year after a split from his former coach Joe Mayo. The Norwegian recorded a tenth-place finish at the season-opening Sentry but has since notched up only one top-20 finish in his subsequent five events. 

The 26-year-old posted a T4 at Augusta National last year and opened the 2024 tournament with a promising one-under-par 71, but saw his hopes fade early in the second round after he dropped seven shots his first five holes.

A nightmare round was typified by a disastrous double bogey on the par 5 15th when Hovland failed with a one-handed attempt to tap in a bogey putt from little more than two feet. 

The nine-over-par 81 saw him become one the big names to miss The Masters cut and the six-time PGA Tour winner has since decided to withdraw from next week's Signature Event at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Earlier in the year, Hovland withdrew from the WM Phoenix Open in similar circumstances after a disappointing showing at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. 

Speaking earlier in the week at Augusta, Hovland, who is now working with swing coach Grant Waite, said his change of coach in the off-season was motivated by a desire to find a more "sustainable" swing.

"I was playing great golf last year, but it's not like I'm trying to change my golf swing. It's just sometimes the game of golf you try to do the same every day, but then things aren't the same every day when you go to the golf course," he said.

"I took a huge break after last year and when I came back, things were a little bit different and I had to kind of find my way back to where I think I'm going to play my best golf.

"And even at the end of the last year I still felt like, yeah, I was playing great, but I got a lot out of my game and it didn't necessarily feel sustainable, but it's not like I consciously went in and said, 'hey, we're going to change everything up.'"