Tom Hoge made enough mistakes to know how not to repeat them

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Tom Hoge
Tom Hoge summed up his win on Sunday. "A lot of hard work and probably just got a little bit smarter out here all these years." Photo: progolfnow.com

Winning his first title on the PGA Tour at 32, the grind has been long and hard for Tom Hoge. All the strife paid off on Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Excerpts from an interview.

Back-to-back birdies and you tell yourself there’s still a lot of golf to be played.

Tom Hoge: Yeah, it was frustrating. I felt like the wind was really tricky all day. It picked up, went down, switched directions. That shot on 5 and my tee shot on 8 I really timed the wind poorly and caught a wrong gust and it just plugged there.

Yeah, I thought, I really thought I made too many mistakes to really have a chance on the front nine, to be honest with you, and I looked up and I was still kind of right in the game then making the turn. So I just tried to hang in there as best as I could and I finally started making a few putts.

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The putt on 11 was a really tough putt I managed to make and that one really kind of got me going.

 

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What approach you hit as well into 15.

Hoge: Yeah, that was fun. A shot that I’ve seen Jordan (Spieth) hit in the past, I think it was last year he holed one kind of similar, so I had a good visual for that one, kind of whip it out there to the right and let the wind blow it in and catch the slope down to the hole and came off pretty nice.

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You were standing on the tee at 17, you knew Jordan made the bogey there, what was your thought process on the tee and then talk me through the putt?

Hoge: Yeah, really I was just trying to get two good looks for birdie on 17 and 18 and still expected Jordan to make a birdie or eagle on 18 coming up the stretch. Putt was kind of a bonus, you never expect to make that putt, a big swinging downhill putt like that. When I hit it I initially thought it was short, but went right in the middle, it was pretty nice.

You’re 32-years-old, you’re a veteran out here, maybe even a journeyman. Your game has really gone up a tick. Now you’re PGA Tour champion, what’s been the difference in the last couple of years that thrust your game forward somewhat late in your career?

Hoge: Yeah, I mean, obviously a lot of hard work with my caddie Henry and probably just got a little bit smarter out here all these years, I’ve certainly made enough mistakes to figure out how to not do that anymore. So it’s been a nice progression and I think just being comfortable in this atmosphere now, certainly helped being in the final group a couple weeks ago in Palm Springs so I really felt good today right from the get-go and, yeah, you never know where that slight edge is going to come, so we hope that you know that you get enough and it will all add up.

I know our listeners don’t know, we have a little karma thing going on here. We saw you Wednesday night at dinner in Palm Springs you finished second. We see you Wednesday night here you go on to win. All I can say the next time we see you at dinner you’re buying.

Hoge: I’m going to be following you guys here wherever you go, so look out.

PGA Tour

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