Viktor Hovland’s sudden withdrawal from the 2025 Ryder Cup ignited weeks of controversy. The Norwegian was ruled out under the event’s “envelope rule,” which also left Harris English on the sidelines. This drew criticism from fans as well as players like Keegan Bradley, calling for a rule change.

“Nothing against Viktor. But that rule needs to change by the next Ryder Cup,” Keegan Bradley said, trying to shift the blame away from Viktor Hovland. Bradley’s remark inevitably put his Ryder Cup rival back in the spotlight, since the envelope rule came into play because of Hovland’s withdrawal. After weeks of silence, the 28-year-old finally addressed the controversy in a recent interview.

Preceding the 2025 DP World India Championship, Hovland sat down for a press conference to discuss his expectations for the event. That’s when EssentiallySports asked him about the final round of the 2025 Ryder Cup and what his views were on the entire debate. Viktor told us, “The whole situation was pretty upsetting, just the fact that I didn’t get to play, and I felt really bad for Harris, who also didn’t get to play a match, even though there was nothing wrong with him. He just didn’t get to play, and he was upset about that, and I feel very bad for not being able to compete.”

When the envelope rule was enforced, Keegan Bradley had to withdraw Harris English from the Sunday singles, resulting in both sides sharing half a point. After all their effort to make the team, both players were eager to compete, making the outcome especially disappointing. Hovland also took the chance to explain how the envelope rule came to be.

“It’s tough. I think we’re so used to it in sports that if you can’t play because you’re hurt, obviously, that should be a loss of a point. But I think in the spirit of the Ryder Cup and the spirit of the game and the history of it, knowing that this Ryder Cup is just a part of many, many Ryder Cups to come, I think it’s more of a gentlemen’s agreement that okay, you were hurt this time and maybe the next time there’s a guy on the U.S.’s team and we’re all kind of sympathetic about the person being hurt and not being able to play.”

Being the purest form of golf, the Ryder Cup has always brought a form of honor and prestige to the sport. It carried a gentleman’s agreement that both teams will sympathize with the other if one of their players gets injured. The rule was first introduced in 1979. However, before that, both teams decided on such informal resolutions to play with pride. Similarly, Hovland also incorporates the traditional approach. He additionally spoke about the drawbacks of an alternate approach, suggested by Bradley.

“I think there’s kind of a mutual understanding that if we were healthy, we would all go out there and play. I don’t think people are using that to really finagle the system and try and squeak by. Also to the other point, if you do change the rule and you give away a point, now there’s also the angle that okay, knowing that the other team is going to put out their best player most likely in the first few groups, they can just kind of put me out as a sacrificial lamb and take the L against their best player.”

“So there’s other ways around it, and I think — I don’t think there’s any ideal way to do it, but the most — I think that’s just a better way overall to do it, even though it’s just a tough situation, and at the end of the day, I think we’d all be wanting to go out there and play.” Hovland painted the picture vividly. If the players or teams really wanted to take advantage of the system, then the rule would have been enforced many more times than just three times in thirty years. In fact, this was the first time Team Europe used it. Before this, only the Americans had used it.

Interestingly, long before Viktor Hovland decided to explain himself, many had already come to his defense to withdraw from the Sunday Singles.

Hovland receives support against Bradley’s criticism

One of the first individuals to jump in to defend one of his star players was Team Europe’s captain himself, Luke Donald. During the press conference after their victory, the English veteran told the media, “I think it’s been in place since 1971. The U.S. has used it before. We have contracts for a reason, a captain’s agreement for a reason, for situations that occur. The rule is the rule, and it’s been in place for a long time. I want to center it back to Viktor; I would have had absolute faith in him to deliver a point today. He couldn’t play. He was gutted.” 

It was clear that Donald had immense respect for everything Keegan Bradley achieved. However, he couldn’t stand the Team U.S. captain making such brash statements about one of his players. In the end, Donald also expressed that he had complete faith in Hovland to secure the Europeans the point from his match on Sunday had he played. Team Europe’s vice captain, Edoardo Molinari, also shared his views on Bradley’s statement. Speaking of the suggestion made by the Team U.S. captain, he said, “I think the envelope rule is the lesser of the two evils.” He believes that the old rule is still much better than what Keegan has proposed for the 2027 Ryder Cup. It will be interesting to see if any changes are imposed in the coming years.