FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Viktor Hovland withdrew from Sunday singles at the Ryder Cup, one day after aggravating a neck injury.
The Norwegian is at Bethpage Black to support Team Europe but will not be able to compete. An MRI conducted Saturday night revealed a bulging disk, and Team Europe said in a statement that Hovland woke up Sunday unable to move his neck.
The withdrawal triggers the Ryder Cup’s rarely used “envelope rule.” When submitting his singles lineup Saturday night, United States team captain Keegan Bradley had to place the name of one of his players in a sealed enveloped who would not play if someone from Europe withdrew.
That name was Harris English, who already was slated to face Hovland in the final singles match of the afternoon. Instead, the match goes down as a draw and each team receives a half-point.
Europe now leads the United States 12-5 ahead of the first singles match teeing off at 12:02 p.m. ET. As defending champs, Europe needs just two points to retain the Ryder Cup and 2 1/2 points to win outright.
“There is nothing more I would like to do than be out there representing Team Europe and trying to help them win the Ryder Cup today,” Hovland said in a statement. “Not being able to do so is pretty heartbreaking. I will be backing my team as hard as I can and rooting them on.”
Hovland, 28, told reporters Saturday that the injury was the same one that forced him to withdraw from the Travelers Championship in late June.
Hovland played in the foursomes session Saturday morning with Robert MacIntyre of Scotland and beat Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley, 1 up. But he was scratched from his afternoon fourball alongside England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and replaced with another Englishman, Tyrrell Hatton.
“I took some painkillers on the seventh hole and then got some treatment from Matt Roberts, the physio, on the 10th tee box,” Hovland said. “It stayed the same for the remainder of the match after that. But I came in and rested up and got some more treatment and when I went back out onto the range, I tried hitting some shots trying to build up to the driver. I hit three or four hard ones and it just got worse.”
Hovland, the 2023 FedEx Cup champion on the PGA Tour, went 1-1-0 in his two matches. This was his third Ryder Cup.
English, 36, was an automatic qualifier to the U.S. team on the strength of his 2025 season, where he had three top-three finishes at majors. But he went 0-2-0 as Collin Morikawa’s partner in foursomes this week, his second Ryder Cup appearance.
Sunday tee times (USA vs. EUR, all times ET):
Cameron Young vs. Justin Rose, 12:02 p.m.
Justin Thomas vs. Tommy Fleetwood, 12:13 p.m.
Bryson DeChambeau vs. Matt Fitzpatrick, 12:24 p.m.
Scottie Scheffler vs. Rory McIlroy, 12:35 p.m.
Patrick Cantlay vs. Ludvig Aberg, 12:46 p.m.
Xander Schauffele vs. Jon Rahm, 12:57 p.m.
J.J. Spaun vs. Sepp Straka, 1:08 p.m.
Russell Henley vs. Shane Lowry, 1:19 p.m.
Ben Griffin vs. Rasmus Hojgaard, 1:30 p.m.
Collin Morikawa vs. Tyrrell Hatton, 1:41 p.m.
Sam Burns vs. Robert MacIntyre, 1:52 p.m.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
