Viktor Hovland ‘hated’ his Olympic teammate when they first met

Norwegian golfer Viktor Hovland and Olympic teammate Kristian Johannessen did not get off to the best of starts when they first met.

“I hated him,” Hovland said while cracking a smile.

The two first met at a junior event in Spain. Hovland was rooming with a close friend of his and his girlfriend. This meant Hovland could not get the good night’s sleep that he intended on before the tournament.

A cranky Hovland would not stop complaining about his lack of sleep. That was until Johannessen finally had enough of Hovland’s crying.

“I had never met Kristian before, but I knew who he was and after I like told this to a couple of different people he just asked me straight up, ‘Well, what did you shoot the first two days of the tournament?’ Because we had already played two rounds. And I just said, ‘Well, I shot 82, 82.’ And he was just like, ‘Well does it matter where you’re sleeping if you’re shooting 82, 82?’” Hovland said.

“Never met the guy before and I’m like, all right, we’re off to a good start. … despite the nasty comments he’s actually a pretty decent guy.”

“After that, we had a good time for a lot of years even though we started out not the best,” Johannessen said of the event.

Hovland is currently the No. 11 golfer in the world. He has two PGA tour wins in his career — one at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and one at the Puerto Rico Open — and was the first Norwegian to win on the European Tour by winning the 2021 BMW International Open. Meanwhile, Johannessen is the No. 297-ranked golfer in the world.

The two will compete for gold starting on Wednesday. They look to put an end to Norway’s lack of success at the summer Olympics.