As golf fans have learned in recent years, there’s an added bonus when Viktor Hovland wins a PGA Tour event. That, of course, is the tour posting footage from the Norwegian broadcast booth soon after. ELECTRIC footage, that is.

That’s because announcers Henrik Bjornstad and Per Haugsrud, both former pro golfers themselves, get extremely animated during the broadcast.

The Tour getting ready to post the Norwegian booth call of Hovland’s win
pic.twitter.com/GYkhWYPi8s

— claire rogers (@kclairerogers) August 27, 2023

Anyway, Hovland’s latest win on Sunday at the Tour Championship to claim the FedEx Cup had golf fans looking forward to this pair’s take on events. And they didn’t disappoint in footage shared by the tour on Tuesday.

With Hovland beating Xander Schauffele by fives shots, there wasn’t much drama down the stretch at East Lake during the final round. But the 25-year-old did sink a 23-footer for par on the 14th hole that kept his then three-shot lead intact, causing Bjornstad and Haugsrud to go nuts as they nearly high-fived each other’s hands off.

But in that excitement, Haugsrud couldn’t resist blurting out a taunt at Schauffele. Have a look and listen:

The Norwegian announce call we’ve all been waiting for ??@PerHaugsrud and @HenrikBjornstad react to Viktor Hovland making history @TOURChamp. pic.twitter.com/3cABQ2bKkU

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 29, 2023

“That is par! Taste that one, Xander!” Even Xander would have to find that funny. Maybe.

Anyway, great stuff as always from these two, who shared a nice victory hug when it was all over. And we can only imagine their reaction if when Hovland wins a major. Can’t wait!

The post WATCH: The Norwegian broadcast booth got so fired up for Viktor Hovland’s win that they taunted Xander Schauffele appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Nobody — and we mean NOBODY — gets up for a Viktor Hovland victory quite like the Norwegian broadcast booth. With each passing win by the Oslo-born PGA Tour pro, the Arcadian announcers have gone crazier and crazier, crescendoing on Sunday as Hovland fired a course-record 61, including a Looney-Tunes-eyeball-bulging 28 on the back nine, to clinch the BMW Championship. When Hovland’s final putt clunked into the bottom of the cup, the Norwegian booth exploded like a Mentos in a Coke bottle in a truly unforgettable (and largely unintelligible) outpouring of joy. Sound to 11.

The Norwegian booth call never disappoints ??@PerHaugsrud and @HenrikBjornstad couldn’t contain their excitement over Viktor Hovland’s record breaking round @BMWChamps. pic.twitter.com/jmXYF2rAmp

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 22, 2023

As the wise old sage Ron Burgundy once said: GREAT ODIN’S RAVEN! You have to love their passion for their fellow countryman and the yin-yang of the pair is hilarious. One loses his mind, going in for a bear hug, bellowing: “HOLY! … I WANT TO SCREAM THE WORST WORDS I’VE GOT!” while his broadcast partner sits in stunned silence, unsure how to rationalise or contextualise what he has just seen (one of the greatest back nines in PGA Tour history, to be clear).

Like we said, these two have delivered plenty of fireworks over the years but this was easily their best work yet. Now all that’s left is Hovland’s major breakthrough. If and when that happens, run for cover, but it’s going to be raining thunder and lightning from the Norwegian booth. That much we guarantee.

The post The Norwegian booth delivered their most unhinged broadcast yet after Viktor Hovland’s BMW Championship 61 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“I am not plastered over the billboards, and I am free to walk around with my friends,” the 24-year-old said, regarding his homeland where sporting stars are usually wearing skis or sitting at a chessboard.

But that has all changed in the past few months.

Hovland went on to win at Emirates Golf Club on the Majlis Course in Dubai that weekend and propel himself to A-list superstardom in his country alongside the likes of chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and an endless list of heroes who claimed 408 Olympic medals on snow and ice.

Norway is a country that has limited time each year for ‘summer’ sports such as golf and football due to its location in the Arctic Circle, so winter and indoor sports are embraced.

Wind of change

However, things have been changing.

On Monday, Manchester City announced the signing of Erling Haaland, arguably the hottest prospect in football, as he joined his boyhood club from Borussia Dortmund in Germany (his father Alfie played for City two decades ago as captain and Erling was born in England).

The giant striker, unveiled 22 years to the day after his father’s signing at City, is certainly used to being mobbed by fans in Germany and beyond as he has become the poster boy for the world’s most popular sport, taking over the mantle, alongside PSG’s Kylian Mbappe, from the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He has a long way to go to fill those boots, but he and Hovland are putting Norway on the sporting map outside of skis and skates.

Hovland has been propelled to fame thanks to his famous playoff win in Dubai over Richard Bland (Rory McIlroy — infamously — found the water on 18 to miss out on the title).

“I am not a star at home,” Hovland told me just before that win in Dubai, his perma-smile glistening in the winter UAE sunshine. “I enjoy it, as I get to relax with my friends. We kinda get away with it.”

Not so much now. Hovland is very much in the spotlight alongside Haaland.

Suzzann Pettersen

History

Norway has tasted major success twice before in golf thanks to Suzann Pettersen (2007 LPGA and 2013 Evian), but sadly it never really registered in her homeland.

Outside the winter sports, they have had stellar footballers in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and people like John Carew and Tore Andre Flo, who still get mobbed wherever they go.

Then there are others such as Petter Solberg (motorsports) and more recently Casper Ruud in tennis.

Haaland and Hovland have “kinda” changed that these days and the Norwegian populace has embraced sports outside their normal go-to zones.

Hovland is now on the billboards.
He is getting mobbed.
He is a star.

Hovland is one of the biggest draws on the PGA Tour in the US and beyond as the world No. 8 (he was No.3 after Dubai Classic), with merchandise deals flowing.

Haaland has probably already become the signing of the summer football transfer window with his much-touted move to England to follow in his father Alfie’s footsteps after completing a £51.2m transfer to City. The 21-year-old has arguably usurped the Norwegian winter stars thanks to 86 goals in 89 games for Dortmund, and is ranked as one of the biggest stars in the game of football.

Hovland, for his part, has (re?)launched golf on to the map in Scandinavia, taking over from the likes of Sweden’s 2016 Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson.

Football has its fair share of Nordic heroes, with Soskjaer scoring the famous winner for Manchester United in the 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich, plus global stars such as Flo, Henning Berg, John Arne Riise, and now Haaland, but never before had they had a star like this on the fairways.

Quriky fact: While Haaland joins the Abu Dhabi-owned City, Hovland made his name in Dubai to reach his highest ranking of No. 3.

Chess mastermind Carlsen is a legend in his own right after his recent World Championship defence in Dubai at Expo 2020, but it is a close-run thing after that as to whom is the biggest Norwegian star.

Breakdown

Let’s see where Hovland ranks among the Norway contingent — outside the mountains — in our own ranks.
(This is my opinion only, based on current performances and the reputations of those who have retired.)

1 Magnus Carlsen (Chess)
2 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Football)
3 Erling Haaland (Football)
4 Viktor Hovland (Golf)
5 Casper Ruud (Tennis)
6 Karsten Warholm (Track and Field)
7 Tore André Flo
8 John Arne Riise (Football)
9 John Carew (Football)
10 Petter Solberg (Motorsports)
11 Morten Gamst Pedersen (Football)
12 Joshua King (Football)
13 Cecilia Braekhus (Boxing)
14 Henning Berg (Football)
15 Ronny Deila (Football)
16 Ronny Johnsen (Football)
17 Suzann Pettersen (Golf)
18 Åge Hareide (Football)
19 Ståle Solbakken (Football)
20 Henrik Ingebrigtsen (Track and Field)

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