Ryder Cup star opens up on ongoing battle to stay out of 'La La Land'

In what has become an annual tradition, 2022 winner Hovland delivered an insightful press conference ahead of his appearance in this week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club.

“I would say I managed things better towards the end of year,” he replied to being asked where he was at the moment with his game. “I had some better results and found a bit more consistency. But I still didn't feel like technically it was that much better.

“I took a few weeks off at the end of the year, and have been out here the past couple weeks just practising and getting ready. It was pretty rough, and we weren't really happy with how things were looking, either.

“But Grant [Waite, his coach] came out here last week, and I think we really got down to, ‘okay, how do I actually solve this problem’, and as soon as I found the feel for it, it started looking almost like it did back in the day. And that was really nice to see.

“I'm really happy with just how things are trending. Yeah, it might be a little too soon this week, but I think this year is going to be a good one.”

How rough is rough for a player of his standard? “When I just came back out? It's like topping iron shots and just chunking them halfway with a 7-iron. Like, it was pretty rough,” he admitted, laughing.

Is he in a better place than 12 months’ ago, when his chat in the same media centre left us worrying that he might be struggling to make last year’s Ryder Cup team but did indeed make it to Bethpage Black.

“It was bad,” he admitted. “It's not fun. But I don't think it helps to put even more pressure on yourself and tell everyone, ‘oh, it's really good, actually’.

“I know at the end of the day, I have to solve these problems, solve these issues. And if I happen to play well out there, then that's a bonus. So that's kind of how I frame that in my own head.

“But, at the end of the day, these are issues that I have to solve, and until I solve them, then it's going to be kind of a tough battle, and that's what it's been like kind of the last couple years.

“But that's what's nice to see, some progress in practice and knowing that you are working on the right stuff and you actually believe in the process. So that's really cool.”

He continued: “I've had a lot of people come up to me and say, ‘you're just kind of overthinking it; just be natural; be instinctual’. And that's all great if you're hitting the ball nice.

“But, if you're slicing the ball 70 yards offline, you know, "be positive," that goes out the window real quick. But I have conceded kind of that when you're struggling and you're in a rut, and you feel like you're in a hole, a bad attitude just amplifies that.

“So I think it can really kill you with a bad attitude. But just having a good attitude is not going to get you out of the soup. You actually have to solve the problems and see progress in practice, and then you can start to believe. But just believing arbitrarily, that just puts you in La La Land. So I'd rather not do that.”