For Norwegian star golfer Viktor Hovland there was no easy way around it when declaring the controversy surrouding his withdrawal from the final day of the recent Ryder Cup due to injury as ‘pretty upsetting’.
Hovland has returning to competition this week in India and was making his first public comments since withdrawing from the Sunday Singles session of the Ryder Cup with a neck injury, which invoked the controversial “envelope rule”
Hovland re-aggravated a long-standing neck injury during Saturday’s Four-ball session, which caused him to pull out of the Singles session the next day. That invoked the “envelope rule,” which was agreed upon by both teams ahead of the event, which calls for the Singles match with the injured player to be halved with a pre-determined player on the opposing side, whose name is placed in an envelope.
That player was Harris English for the U.S. Team. This was the fourth time in Ryder Cup history that the rule has come into play, and the first since 1993. The rule was established in 1971. Both players received a half-point for the match, which was not played.
BREAKING …..
Victorious ’25 @RyderCupEurope star Viktor Hovland @TrackingHovland describes controversial ‘Envelope Ruling’ as ‘pretty upsetting’
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At the time of the injury, the fact that Hovland would not play and his match would be halved seemed destined to be a footnote in an otherwise historic blowout by Team Europe on enemy soil. Instead, the U.S. stormed back from a record seven-point deficit and nearly completed the craziest comeback in Ryder Cup history. That half-point loomed large as the competition got tighter and tighter on Sunday afternoon. Ultimately, the half-point didn’t change the outcome – Europe won by 15-13 – but it could have changed the tenor of the afternoon if an injured Hovland was either forced to play his match or forfeit the point.
Hovland did not address the situation while at Bethpage Black, but was asked to weigh in on Tuesday.
“It’s tough. I think we’re so used to in sports that if you can’t play because you’re hurt, obviously that should be a loss of point,” Hovland said. “But I think in the spirit of the Ryder Cup and the spirit of the game and the history of it, knowing that this Ryder Cup is just a part of many, many Ryder Cups to come, I think it’s more of a gentlemen’s agreement that okay, you were hurt this time and maybe the next time there’s a guy on the U.S.’s team and we’re all kind of sympathetic about the person being hurt and not being able to play.”
Hovland dismissed any notion that the rule is used to “finagle the system” and receive a half-point that wasn’t earned, but he understood the other side.
“If you do change the rule and you give away a point, now there’s also the angle that okay, knowing that the other team is going to put out their best player most likely in the first few groups, they can just kind of put me out as a sacrificial lamb and take the (loss) against their best player. So there’s other ways around it,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any ideal way to do it, but the most – I think that’s just a better way overall to do it, even though it’s just a tough situation, and at the end of the day, I think we’d all be wanting to go out there and play.”
As for how Hovland feels now, he said he didn’t touch a club for a week and a half to rest his neck. He played two rounds at home and felt “okay” – a good enough prognosis to tee it up this week in India. He expects he won’t hit too many drivers, which is the club that leads to the most pain when he swings.
NB: Article with thanks PGA Tour
