Sports
Viktor Hovland and the case for perfectionism
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — There was Viktor Hovland, moments after winning his first PGA Tour championship in 18 months, after storming back from three shots down with five to play to beat a top-10 player in the world for the Valspar Championship.
If there was a moment to declare himself back, to say that every swing fix and coaching change he has put himself through since the 2023 Ryder Cup was absolutely worth it because here he is with the trophy next to him, this was it.
But as much as it was clear that Hovland, the 27-year-old Norwegian flashing that easy smile, was happy, I had to ask him, “How happy are you with your swing right now?”
“Yeah, it’s still not great,” Hovland said. “… The club is just not in a great place for me coming down. It’s just not what it used to be. So I can’t really rely on my old feels anymore because the club is in a different spot and I have to change my release pattern to make that work.”
OK, well, it did work. Results over process, right? Hovland just played four straight rounds under par at the Copperhead Course, including a Sunday 67 with birdies on two difficult holes to edge Justin Thomas by a stroke. No, not so much.
“I think that is something that I’m extremely proud of that I can show up at a PGA Tour event at one of the hardest golf courses we play all year and still win with not my best stuff. … But at the same time, it makes this game a lot more stressful than I think it should be,” Hovland said.
Viktor Hovland, right, walks off the 18th tee with caddie Shay Knight. (Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)
This is, at its core, who Viktor Hovland is and why he believes he’s been able to go from a relatively minor golfing country like Norway to Oklahoma State to the PGA Tour and have as much success as he has. Sunday was his seventh PGA Tour win, including a Tour Championship, and he has three top-five finishes at the majors in the last three years.
It’s not enough to be good. It’s not enough to flirt with great. He’s striving for something here, and why is that a problem?
“I find it kind of weird that we’re professional athletes and the people that are wanting to improve are somewhat looked at, ‘Oh, he’s a perfectionist, he’s out on the perimeter searching too much.’ It’s like, that’s what we do; we are here to get better, and we are here to win tournaments. So if you’re not going to try to get better, what are you doing?” Hovland said.
There’s something to be admired there. The not-so-secret truth of the PGA Tour is that the money is good enough that you don’t have to win to set up yourself and your family nicely. And for years the tour has operated in a way that if you kept your card for a few years, it was hard to lose it, perpetuating a cycle of doing just enough to keep the checks coming. Good is, in fact, the enemy of great. Men’s professional golf is no different from any other industry in that way.
No one has been able to convince Hovland to join the murky middle, even his well-meaning mother, who makes it a habit to let Viktor, at his low moments, know that a lot of other people played poorly that day too. “It never consoles me,” he said.
This was the tournament week for Hovland, who had not made a cut in 2025 and was ejected from The Players Championship with a first-round 80: While committed to the Valspar, he spent Monday in Orlando working with swing coach Grant Waite, and they found something of a swing feel. Enough that Hovland figured he might as well drive over to Tampa Bay on Tuesday, playing a late practice round. Only after those nine holes did he make the final decision to play in the tournament, but with very little, if any, expectation of contending.
Then came a first-round 70, and a 67 the next day that had him one shot off the lead. “I don’t have control over what I’m doing,” Hovland said that day. Playing in the final group Saturday, Hovland shot a 69 and ended the day in a three-way tie for the lead. “Still feels like I’m saving a lot of shots, but they’re going fairly straight, so it’s OK,” Hovland said.
Viktor Hovland leaned on his irons during the Valspar Championship. (Brennan Asplen / Getty Images)
Sunday was a stress test, then. Could Hovland manage his game, play into that swing feel and find a way to win? The answer was a testament to his work. Hovland not only avoided his biggest problem right now — a “big push fade” — on No. 16, where water runs the length of the fairway, but he also hit maybe the shot of the tournament, an approach from 187 yards out to less than 6 feet. With a birdie putt there and another on No. 17, Hovland had a two-shot cushion, enough to bogey 18 and still win.
Now the work begins again with Waite, one of the swing coaches Hovland hired and fired over the last 18 months, bringing him back this month in part because Waite is an information guy and Hovland wants all the information. All the data. Don’t hide from the problem. Lean into it and come back out the other side. Hopefully.
You win this time of year on the PGA Tour and it’s only so long until the questions inevitably come around to the Masters. There are 18 days until the first round, and Hovland believes what he did to win this week — taming tight fairways with accurate iron shots and a good week putting — will not have the same effect at Augusta National, an entirely different test of golf. That is his reality as he sees it, though Hovland sprinkled in some positive self-talk.
“I still need to be honest so I can attack the problems that I have and we can improve, but at the same time, I got to give myself some credit. And even no matter how bad it feels or how many poor shots I’m hitting, I’m still capable of shooting good scores with it. So I kind of have to keep that in the back of my head,” Hovland said.
So, is Viktor Hovland back? Yes. Just don’t ask him to confirm it.
(Top photo: Brennan Asplen / Getty Images)
Sports
‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
Sports
Ryan Ward has a solid debut, but bullpen blows it again as Dodgers lose to Rockies
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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