Viktor Hovland suggests how he feels about the golfers who left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf three years ago

The Memorial Tournament gets underway this week and one of the potential winners, Viktor Hovland, has been speaking about the change in the event with no LIV Golf players around.

The Memorial remains a signature event and one of the big ones for players to win.

Last year, Scottie Scheffler took home the trophy in front of Jack Nicklaus and with no Rory McIlroy there this year, he’ll be looking to make it two in a row.

Of course, one of the players hoping to stop Scheffler in his tracks is Viktor Hovland. The Norwegian is still battling with consistency issues but remains one of the top players on the PGA Tour.

And looking back at when he first played The Memorial back in 2020, Hovland admitted things feel a lot different now, in part, due to the LIV Golf situation.

Viktor Hovland comments on LIV Golf players ahead of The Memorial

Hovland was speaking to the press ahead of teeing it up at The Memorial this week and he reflected on turning pro just before the LIV players decided to defect.

And for Hovland, he admitted the whole game of golf feels different now.

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird. I basically turned pro right in the middle of COVID, and that’s five years ago, and it’s like, yeah, it just feels weird. It feels like it almost didn’t happen anymore. It’s like we’re in a different timeline right now,” Hovland commented.

“Yeah, things have definitely gone fast, but then we’re still kind of in the same position, kind of in a stalemate. So it’s a little bit weird, but certainly miss some of those guys. But, yeah, got to focus on my things this week.”

Commenting further on the state of the field at the tournament after Rory McIlroy opted out, Hovland admitted he’d prefer to play against all the top players.

“Sure, the field matters, but at the end of the day I’m here to just do a job and play the best I can play.

“But I think it does, you know, if the tournament is missing the top 5 players in the world and if they are in, like, there is a difference in vibe or atmosphere for the tournament, and obviously as a player, I want to play against the best players in the world.

“I think it’s more fun for me to compete against those guys. So I want to play in the best fields, but at the end of the day I got to focus on my own stuff.”