ORLANDO – Viktor Hovland, who suffered damage to his 3-wood Saturday at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, is now using a new TaylorMade 3-wood for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. This was possible thanks to an emergency visit by his caddie to a local PGA Tour Store.
Hovland was tied for second on Sunday with Scottie Scheffler. He blasted his 3-wood 311 yard at the par-4 10 hole.
It was hot and took me miles. Shay Knight, Hovland’s caddie, said that he looked at the sole and thought “What the hell?” “I immediately brought it up to his attention.”
Viktor Hovland broke his 3-wood in the third round at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)
Hovland, a Ping ambassador, carries the TaylorMade 3wood underneath a Ping headcover. The Speed Pocket had weakened when they examined the sole of the club. The black rubber compound is bonded onto a small shelf or lip at the bottom of their faces. It bent inwardly, indicating that the bottom of the hitting zone was under a lot of stress from thin shots.
Knight stated, “First time I’ve seen anything like this in 16 years.”
They called for a rules official who informed them that Hovland could take over the club, but he didn’t have any backup. They decided not to use the Tour rules official again to confirm that the club was in compliance.
Hovland finished the day with a 6-under-66, bogey-free score to move to 8-under for tournament. Kurt Kitayama held the 54-hole lead at the end. Knight called TaylorMade’s equipment rep while he was away on vacation in Maui, but arranged for a local rep to get the right clubhead. The exact specifications for Hovland were available at PGA Tour Superstore. The app Waze showed that the PGA Tour Superstore at Turkey Lake was 2.2 miles from Knight, so Knight raced there at 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday to retrieve it.
Knight put the Stealth Plus head in Hovland’s Tour-model shaft, and was ready to give Hovland a test drive on the range.
Knight stated, “We’ll watch how it goes today.” “We don’t really need 3-wood today, but maybe on No. 15 and 18.
