Viktor Hovland suffers fitting end to miserable season but Ryder Cup lifeline remains intact

Viktor Hovland has caught a break that secures his eligibility for next year's Ryder Cup, despite capping a "miserable" season with an injury setback.

The once-shining star of 2023, Hovland dazzled everyone with his FedEx Cup triumph and impactful presence in Europe's Ryder Cup victory in Rome. However, the golfer's attempts at perfecting his swing have led him astray.

The Norwegian hasn't tasted victory this season , failing to make the cut at prestigious tournaments like The Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship, causing his fall from third to eighth in the Official World Golf Ranking.

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His situation took a turn for the worse last month when an undisclosed injury forced him out of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, and he was notably missing from Thursday's kick-off at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Now, Bunkered revealed, as confirmed by the DP World Tour to Mirror Sport , that Hovland is side-lined for the remainder of the year due to his injury.

This means Hovland will be absent from the Race To Dubai finale happening in the United Arab Emirates next month, ending his season rather abruptly and leaving him just short of meeting the criteria to retain his DP World Tour card, which is critical for qualifying for the Ryder Cup team selection.

The DP World Tour requires players to participate in four counting events to maintain their card, but Hovland has only played in two such events this year - the Olympic Games and the Genesis Scottish Open. However, unlike LIV Golf stars Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, who risked falling short of the threshold until they successfully appealed fines imposed by the DP World Tour, Hovland has been granted a medical exemption.

A DP World Tour spokesman confirmed that the exemption reduces Hovland's counting event obligations, allowing him to keep his card and making him eligible for the showdown with the Americans at Bethpage. This comes as a relief, especially after a disappointing year for the talented golfer.

In August, Hovland described his season as "pretty miserable" but expressed confidence that he has identified the issues with his swing and will make a strong comeback in 2025.

Hovland admitted that it's not enjoyable to play golf when he's unsure of the ball's trajectory, saying, "I do pride myself in trying to make the best out of it, but it gets to a point where you kind of lose that belief. You just see a shot, and that's not good enough. I can try to grind my hardest. I can try to chip in from there."

"But you do that too often, too many times during the course of a round or a tournament, it's too much to overcome, and I feel like it's a waste of time for me to be playing golf if that's where I'm at. I'd rather be off the golf course and work on it, trying to figure out why I'm doing those things."

"But hey, that's how it goes sometimes, and I feel like I've learned even more about my golf swing, which I didn't really think I could, so there's always stuff to learn, and I'm super pumped about kind of where I'm headed."

"I'm not sure how long it's going to take for me to play my best golf. It might be this week. It might be next week. But at least now I'm on a path to progress. I'm on a path to improvement. Whereas before, one thing is playing bad, but you don't know why and you don't know how to fix it."

"That's very challenging mentally. But at least now I might play terrible this week, but at least I feel like I'm on a path to improvement, and that's all that kind of matters for me."