TCU’s Tom Hoge makes PGA Championship debut hoping to make more than just the cut
Tom Hoge isn’t a household name to most golf fans. He’s not one of the favorites at this week’s PGA Championship, being listed at 400-to-1 odds by one sports book. A $5 bet would turn into $2,000 if Hoge wins.
But Hoge embraces being a dark horse in his first PGA Championship, which is being played this week at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Despite what oddsmakers think, Hoge knows he belongs on this stage.
He’s played in three U.S. Opens, making the cut and finishing tied for 43rd at Pebble Beach last year, is ranked No. 137 in the world and has three top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this season. There’s no question he’s earned one of the 156 spots in the field this week.
“I would say there’s a little feeling of you belong there,” Hoge said in a telephone interview with the Star-Telegram this week. “But more than anything, just having experience of playing in a few U.S. Opens. I made the cut last year, so I feel like I’m getting more comfortable on the bigger stage. Hopefully I can go out and play well.”
Hoge is playing in the first group off No. 10 Thursday with a 9:05 a.m. tee time (7:05 a.m. San Francisco time), being paired with Dallas native and University of Texas product Scottie Scheffler and Danny Balin, who received one of the 20 exemptions for club pros from the PGA of America.
Hoge was in the midst of a breakout year before the PGA Tour suspended its season among the coronavirus pandemic. He had three top-10s, including a fifth-place finish at the Farmers Insurance Open in January when he was paired with Tiger Woods for the final round at Torrey Pines in San Diego. He out-shot Woods by two strokes that day, 68-70.
But the coronavirus break didn’t do many favors for Hoge. The Fort Worth resident, who played at TCU from 2007-11, missed the cut when the PGA Tour restarted its season with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial in June. He went on to miss four of the next five cuts.
A silver lining is how Hoge played in his last event, finishing tied for 46th at the 3M Open in Minnesota two weeks ago. That, coupled with taking last week off, has Hoge feeling ready and refreshed for his PGA debut.
“I haven’t played real well from the start of the restart. I just haven’t been as sharp yet,” Hoge said. “But I felt that week in Minnesota I was starting to hit the ball a lot better again. I’m excited to get back out there and find that form I had before the coronavirus hit.”
TPC Harding Park is a par-70 course playing at more than 7,200 yards. Seven par 4s are 450 yards or longer. That type of course should suit Hoge’s game well.
Hoge, 31, has become a better driver of the golf ball, hitting 62% of the fairways this season. Finding the fairway is an added premium during major championships with longer rough. But, as Hoge said, the key to moving up the leader board is putting. If he’s putting well, Hoge is known to get on birdie runs.
“More than anything in majors is you’ve really got to be mentally sharp and stay with it. One mistake can become such a big deal out here,” Hoge said. “My first two U.S. Opens at Chambers Bay [in 2015] and Oakmont [in 2016] I wasn’t driving it at nearly the level I needed to in order to compete. I made a lot of bogeys and missed the cuts pretty easily. Fast forward to last year at Pebble Beach and I’m at a point where I’ve matured more and am driving it straighter. I’m not getting as rattled as easily.
“I had the belief that I could get out there and play at that level. A mistake here or there, you can shake it off and not let it get to you the rest of the way.”
With that being said, Hoge remains confident he deserves to be playing and competing with the world’s best. And, hey, he’d love to become a household name with a surprise run this week.
The PGA Championship has produced plenty of under-the-radar champions such as Jimmy Walker in 2016, Y.E. Yang in 2009, Shaun Micheel in 2003 and Rich Beem in 2002.
“When you look at the field of 156 guys, everyone has earned their spot here. It’s one of the deeper fields in golf,” Hoge said. “There’s a lot of great players here that aren’t household names and in the top 20 or 30 of the world rankings — great players who can make a run.
“For me, I would tell you at the start of the year I had a great belief in what I was doing and things were clicking pretty well. If I can get things back in order going in that direction, I’ll be in good shape.”
