Get the Signature Scroll – and the rest of PGA TOUR's newsletters, including The Connect, Wire to Wire and The Early Card – directly in your inbox. Subscribe today!

Harbour Town is always a fun watch. Rickie Fowler is swinging lefty, Chris Gotterup is whiffing. Things are happening. Let's talk ...

Hovland close to lead

The interview area at Augusta National is about a lob wedge away from the first tee, and it’s quite visible as players stand on a slight pedestal overlooking the course while answering questions. As Viktor Hovland stood there last Sunday, it was hard to ignore the swarms of patrons not far from him, exiting the first tee scene to follow the man of the hour: Rory McIlroy.

Hovland was already finished, just as the real party was starting, having closed out a rather mediocre first 54 holes with a strong final-round, 5-under 67 that would make his T18 finish look more consequential than it was.

Naturally, Hovland was asked about his good friend, McIlroy.

“I saw he had maybe a range session last night, and you can find a good feel there and go with that the next day, and suddenly the ball is going straight,” Hovland said. “That's the insanity of the sport that we play.

Hovland would know that more than most. He’s spent the last three years in a perpetual state of golf swing insanity, swapping out feels and coaches and philosophies as he attempts to climb back to the mountaintop. He occupied that space for a brief moment in the summer of 2023, winning back-to-back postseason events to win the FedExCup and leading Team Europe to a dominant win over the Americans in Italy.

Since then, though, he’s been searching. An unapologetic tinkerer, Hovland has tinkered and tinkered and tinkered. It’s brought success in spurts – he won the Valspar Championship last year – but not the consistency he craves. So he keeps diving deeper and deeper. Most recently, he switched back to coach T.J. Yeaton, whom he had briefly worked with in 2025. Hovland has worked with four different coaches, that we know of, since the start of last year.

Hovland’s results are solid but not exceptional this year, with five top 20s in eight worldwide starts. Could Thursday be the start of something better? He shot 7-under 65, tying his low round this year to vault into a tie for second.

It’s part of the quiet and subtle improvements that Hovland has seen over the last few starts. He said at the Valspar last month that he was beginning to see his game trend. His biggest issue then was his driver, but he gained strokes there and at the Masters and was positive in the category through 18 holes in Hilton Head. His approach play has remained outstanding, and his putting has been streaky. On Thursday, it was great. He gained nearly four strokes on the greens, second in the field. Good results followed.

I’m reticent to say Hovland is back. He might be at the range right now, tweaking things that could make or break him. So I’ll just say: Golf is more fun when Hovland’s involved, and I had a blast watching him Thursday. Let’s hope for more of that.

Playing through

• 📺 Here are your full Round 1 highlights …
• 🟧 Nobody was busier on the range during the practice rounds than Rickie Fowler … then he shot 65. My colleague Stephanie Royer dove into his week so far…
• 🚧 We put together this handy guide to every change made at Harbour Town from the latest restoration. Take a look …

Remember this ...

Take note of the results this week; it may provide hints for a couple of big tournaments coming up.

Harbour Town, as it turns out, is one of the most comparable course fits to a pair of upcoming major championship venues: Shinnecock Hills and Royal Birkdale.

Now, if you know of either of those courses, that may initially seem funky. Neither Shinnecock nor Birkdale has many trees to speak of, and Harbour Town is defined by the tight corridors that force players to hit a variety of shots. But the same types of players who thrive at Harbour Town have also thrived there, according to Data Golf’s course similarity tool.

Royal Birkdale has the highest similarity score to Harbour Town of any recent or current TOUR venue. Shinnecock is the sixth-most similar to this week’s venue. The shared characteristics include the following: Driving distance is significantly less important than usual, while accuracy is more important. A strong performance around the greens is paramount, particularly at Birkdale and Harbour Town, while above-average approach play is also required, particularly at Shinnecock Hills. All that adds up to a high similarity score. Royal Birkdale’s score is 86.9 (out of 100). Shinnecock’s is 80.4. Don’t want to look at the numbers? Here’s a highly anecdotal point to consider: Jordan Spieth won at both Birkdale and Harbour Town.

Now that doesn’t guarantee whoever plays well this week will play well at those majors, but it’s useful context as you watch the action at the RBC Heritage. It also furthers the idea that players like Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick should be among the favorites for those final two majors of the year.

Parting shots

• 1️⃣ Scottie Scheffler is 3 under, tied for 20th. It was his lowest first-round score since The American Express. That means he's going to win, right?
• 👏 This is not a golf course that I would have expected Michael Brennan to play well. Much of his advantage comes with his prodigious distance, but that is properly neutered at Harbour Town. Brennan shot 65 and was second in Strokes Gained: Approach. If he plays well all week, it will show significant growth in his game.
• 🌬️ Chris Gotterup whiffed a shot on Thursday. Not kidding. Here’s the video …
• 😬 It’s a testament to his recent play that I noticed Jacob Bridgeman wasn’t near the top of the leaderboard. He shot 75 on Thursday, which followed a 76 on Sunday at Augusta. Those are his worst two rounds of the year. It’s only the second time in six starts that he’s outside T17 after the first round.