In a heart-pounding playoff at the 2000 Mercedes Championship, Tiger Woods stood 40 feet from the cup—with everything on the line—and drained a clutch putt that sent the crowd into a frenzy and sealed the win over Ernie Els. The two had already come off an exceptional end to their 72, scoring eagles on the final hole. With the wind going crazy in the playoffs, the approach shots didn’t favor either as they faced a similar challenge on the green at Kapalua. But how did the GOAT get to that point?
Both Tiger Woods and Viktor Hovland looked unstoppable in 1997 and 2023, respectively. However, neither of them thought their swing was perfect. After winning the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes, Woods went to his former coach, Butch Harmon. He wanted to make a change to his swing to get better. Harmon was puzzled by the request as he asked, “Why would someone change their golf swing when they had so much success?” in a PGA Tour Original dedicated to Tiger Woods on YouTube.
Harmon noted that Tiger Woods was never satisfied, a trait that fueled his swing overhaul, a mindset now mirrored by Hovland as he undertakes his own technical transformation. But even his former swing coach, Joe Mayo, warned him to “leave” his swing alone. Mayo was adamant that the Norwegian had a great swing and shouldn’t alter it in hopes of looking for something better.
“There is no way I could play consistently with my old swing. I would have weeks where I’d win, but I’d also have weeks where I would be either missing cuts or just barely making cuts and then not doing anything on the weekend. It was either all or nothing,” said Tiger Woods in a Golf Digest interview from January 2005, explaining why he wanted to make the change.
In 1997, Woods bagged the Green Jacket and three more wins, but also had one missed cut and seven finishes outside the top 25. To most, that’s a stellar season, but for Tiger, it wasn’t enough. Hovland, in 2023, faced similar struggles – five finishes outside the top 25 but no missed cuts, plus three wins and a runner-up finish at the PGA Championship. They have the same hunger for perfection. After a few bits on how Harmon and Woods worked on the latter’s swing, the veteran coach showed split-screen clips of the progress they have made. The recording from ’93 showed how the incredible power he generated from the fast swing was toned down because of the bad posture. On the other side, the clip from the turn of the millennium showed Tiger Woods was coming down from an angle and perfectly straightening up at the point of impact.
By 2000, the G.O.A.T. had already turned things around and had an outstanding swing. As he admitted, “2000 was more of an evolutionary thing that happened from the ’97 change after Augusta. It was all the hard work that I had done through the middle part of ’97, the struggles of ’98, the struggles of the early part of ’99, just getting efficiently better.” Between ’97 at Augusta and the end of ’99, he won 11 more titles. Back to the scene at Kapalua Golf Course in the 2000 Mercedes Championship, the only difference between that and Viktor Hovland‘s win in the Valspar Championship is, the Norwegian is still not confident about himself. He admitted that his swing was “still not great” and he was lucky to win “without my best stuff.” Whether Viktor Hovland reaches his peak again, just like Tiger Woods did in 2000, is still uncertain.
Golf – The Masters – Augusta National Golf Club – Augusta, Georgia, U.S. – April 4, 2022 Tiger Woods of the U.S. hits his tee shot on the 4th tee during a practice round REUTERS/Mike Segar
Despite that, the 27-year-old has been in great touch this season. Let’s take a look at his record in 2025.
Viktor Hovland finds success even after failing to replicate Tiger Woods’s strategy
Viktor Hovland’s rise is no accident, it’s the result of smart adjustments and strategic growth. In 2023, coach Joe Mayo spotted a subtle flaw: Hovland’s chest wasn’t rotating fast enough through impact, hurting his consistency. Fixing that boosted his ball striking and accuracy.
Meanwhile, the following year, stats guru Edoardo Molinari uncovered another key insight – Hovland was too aggressive with short irons, often leaving himself in tough spots. By dialing it back and playing smarter, especially with wedges, Hovland improved his scoring and consistency. The result? A sharper, savvier game that’s propelled him up the World Golf Rankings.
So, despite missing three cuts, Viktor Hovland has a great 2025. He finally broke his losing streak from 2023 at Copperhead Course and managed to win the 2025 Valspar Championship. Hovland has also had a few other high-ranked finishes this year. Hovland’s coach, Mayo, has urged Hovland to “leave his swing alone”, believing it was fundamentally strong.
The 7x PGAT winner finished at T22 in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am 2025. In the first major of the season, the 2025 Masters Tournament, Hovland ended with a 2-under to finish at T21. Most recently, a T13 on the table of the RBC Heritage showed why he is the man of the big tournaments. While it’s not certain when Viktor Hovland will be able to get his swing where he wants, one thing is for sure: he can continue winning titles throughout that time, just like Tiger Woods did from 1997 to late 1999.
Having said that, how long do you think Viktor Hovland will take to master his swing just like the G.O.A.T. did all those years ago? Share your views in the comments section.
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