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
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.
Sports
After 55 years as a broadcaster in L.A., Randy Rosenbloom is leaving town
It’s time to reveal memories, laughs and crazy times from Randy Rosenbloom’s 55 years as a TV/radio broadcaster in Los Angeles. He’s hopping in a car next Sunday with his wife, saying goodbye to a North Hollywood house that’s been in his family since 1952 and driving 3,300 miles to his new home in Greenville, S.C.
“When I walk out, I’ll probably break down,” he said.
He graduated from North Hollywood High in 1969. He got his first paid job in 1971 calling Hart basketball games for NBC Cable Newhall for $10 a game. It began an adventure of a lifetime.
“I never knew if I overachieved or underachieved. I just did what I loved,” he said.
Randy Rosenbloom (left) used to work with former UCLA coach John Wooden for TV games.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
John Wooden, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick were among his expert commentators when he did play by play for college basketball games. He called volleyball at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games for NBC and rowing in 2004. He’s worked more than 100 championship high school events. He did play by play for the first and only Reebok Bowl at Angel Stadium in 1994 won by Bishop Amat over Sylmar, 35-14.
“There were about 5,000, 6,000 people there and I remember thinking nobody watched the game. We ended up with a 5.7 TV rating on Channel 13 in Los Angeles, which is higher than most Lakers games.”
He conducted interviews with NFL Hall of Famers Gale Sayers and Johnny Unitas and boxing greats Robert Duran, Thomas Hearn and Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s worked with baseball greats Steve Garvey and Doug DeCinces. He called games with former USC coach Rod Dedeaux. He was in the radio booth for Bret Saberhagen’s 1982 no-hitter in the City Section championship game at Dodger Stadium. He was a nightly sportscaster for KADY in Ventura.
Randy Rosenbloom, left, with his volleyball broadcast partners, Kirk Kilgour and Bill Walton.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
He was the voice of Fresno State football and basketball. He also did Nevada Las Vegas football and basketball games. He called bowl games and Little League games. He was a public address announcer for basketball at the 1984 Olympic Games with Michael Jordan the star and did the P.A. for Toluca Little League.
Nothing was too small or too big for him.
“I loved everything,” he said.
He called at least 10 East L.A. Classic football games between Garfield and Roosevelt. He was there when Narbonne and San Pedro tied 21-21 in the 2008 City championship game at the Coliseum on a San Pedro touchdown with one second left.
Probably his most notable tale came when he was doing radio play-by-play at a 1998 college bowl game in Montgomery, Ala.
“I look down and a giant tarantula is crawling up my pants,” he said. “My color man took all the press notes, wadded them up and hit the tarantula like swinging a bat.”
Did Rosenbloom tell the audience what was happening?
“I stayed calm,” he said.
Then there was the time he was in the press box at Sam Boyd Stadium and a bat flew in and attached itself to the wooden press box right next to him before flying away after he said, “UNLV wins.”
Recently, he’s been putting together high school TV packages for LA36 and calling travel ball basketball games. He’ll still keep doing a radio gambling show from his new home, but he’s cutting ties to Los Angeles to move closer to grandchildren.
“I’m retiring from Los Angeles. I’m leaving the market,” he said.
Hopefully he’ll continue via Zoom to do a weekly podcast with me for The Times.
He’s a true professional who’s versatility and work ethic made him a reliable hire from the age of 18 through his current age of 74.
He’s a member of the City Section Hall of Fame and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He once threw the shot put 51 feet, 7 1/2 inches, which is his claim to fame at North Hollywood High.
One time an ESPN graphic before a show spelled his name “Rosenbloom” then changed it to “Rosenblum” for postgame. It was worth a good laugh.
He always adjusts, improvises and ad-libs. He expects to enjoy his time in South Carolina, but he better watch out for tarantulas. They seem to like him.
Sports
Becky Lynch enters exclusive WWE club with Women’s Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Becky Lynch entered an atmosphere no other WWE women’s superstar has ever reached as she won the Women’s Intercontinental Championship over AJ Lee on Saturday night at WrestleMania 42.
Lynch became the first person to hold the Women’s Intercontinental Championship three times after she pinned Lee. She first won the title against Lyra Valkyria in June 2025 and then again against Maxxine Dupri in November.
Becky Lynch celebrates with the belt after defeating AJ Lee during their women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
She dropped the belt to Lee at the Elimination Chamber, sparking a monthslong feud with her.
Lee gave Lynch the chance at the title in the weeks prior to WrestleMania 42. But it appeared Lee played right into Lynch’s plans. Despite arguing with referee Jessica Carr for most of the match, Lynch was able to tactfully tear down a rope buckle and use it to her advantage.
Lynch hit Lee with a Manhandle Slam and pinned her for the win.
WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’
AJ Lee reacts after losing to Becky Lynch in their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It’s the second straight year Lynch will leave Las Vegas as champion. She returned to WWE at WrestleMania 41, teaming with Valkyria, to win the women’s tag titles. She will now leave Allegiant Stadium as the women’s intercontinental champion.
Lynch is now a seven-time women’s champion, three-time women’s intercontinental champion and two-time tag team champion.
Becky Lynch withstands AJ Lee during their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Lee’s reign as champion ended really before it could really begin. WrestleMania 42 was her first appearance at the event in 11 years. It’s unclear where Lee will go from here.
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