Not able to set the NavigateUrl from the Code Behind

I am trying to return a view model of controls from a class helper.  I am setting this in my page load of my master page.  Since I have declared a UI.Control.Hyperlink in my view model and am just passing it back in and then setting it directly without setting specific properties.
So if I have a Hyperlink Like this:
<asp:HyperLink id="testHyperLink" .... />
Then in the code behind I am doing this.
testHyperLink = myViewModel.Hyperlink;
When I do my debug break point, everything is fine and the values are in there including the Text and the NavigateUrl... but when the pages renders the NavigateUrl is gone and it does not show the url at the bottom of the IE screen.