WINNING SCORE: 19-under-par, 269.

EQUIPMENT CHOICE:

DRIVER: PING G425 LST with 9° loft, fitted with Project X HZRDUS Smoke RDX Black 60 6.5 shaft.

3-WOOD: TaylorMade SIM with 15° loft, with Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei Blue AV TX shaft.

HYBRID: PING G425 (3) with 19° loft, with Graphite Design AD DI Hybrid 85 X shaft.

IRONS: PING iBlade (4-iron to 6-iron) and PING i59 prototype (7-iron to pitching wedge), with KBS Tour V 120 X shafts.

WEDGES: PING Glide Forged Pro prototype (50° SS & 56° SS) and Titleist Vokey Design Wedgeworks (60° T Grind), with KBS Tour V 130 X shafts.

PUTTER: PING PLD prototype DS 72.

BALL: Titleist Pro V1.

FINAL LEADERBOARD

EQUIPMENT NOTES:

  • The 23-year-old’s first European Tour win comes a week after he was forced to withdraw from the US Open with an eye injury when sand flew into his eye during the second round. Playing solidly all day Sunday despite a charge from two-time major winner Martin Kaymer, Hovland drove the ball particularly well with his PING G425 driver that actually carries 7.75° of loft rather than the 9° stamped on the head. The two-time PGA Tour winner also has the moveable weight set in the heel to help fight his right miss, Hovland playing a slight cut as his standard shot from the tee.
  • Hovland, whose caddie is Aussie Shay Knight, had a set of yet to be released irons and similarly some prototype wedges in the bag this week. A long time user of PING’s i210 cavity back model, Hovland recently made the switch to the company’s i59 prototype iron that is rumoured to replace the i210 in the player’s cavity space for the American manufacturer. The wedge model has similarly recently shown up in Tour player bags primarily in America, while the Ryder Cup hopeful also carries a custom ground Vokey lob wedge.

  • Having used a counterbalanced TaylorMade putter during his time in college and when winning the US Amateur, Hovland took some time finding a PING putter to his liking but has now had his PLD model in the bag for an extended period. Playing at 36 inches with a longer counterbalanced grip, the putter carries just 2.5° of loft and has developed patina due to its oil can finish. Hovland’s mallet has inspired the new DS 72 in the PING 2021 putter range and it is easy to see why, the Norwegian leading the field in Strokes Gained: Putting this past week in Germany.

  • Hovland’s win gives Titleist golf balls three victories from four events on the European Tour in June, and was part of a clean sweep of the world’s Tours Pro V1 and Pro V1x, which were also used to win on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour.

QUOTE: "There’s a lot of guys who played this week who I grew up watching. It’s cool to be a champion of this Tour, in Germany, in a place that ... it’s not in Norway, but it’s close and has some of the same feelings of being home. It’s a huge honour and finally Norway has a win on the European Tour." – Viktor Hovland.