Hoge finds road to success at Pine Ridge

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This article was published 18/07/2011 (5520 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For a week that didn’t start all that well — there’s a big difference between Elmhurst Road and Elmhurst Golf and Country Club — Monday qualifier Tom Hoge of Fargo set some Canadian Tour history with his win at the Players Cup hosted By Jonathan Toews on Sunday at Pine Ridge.

The 22-year-old in his third pro event became the first Monday qualifier to win a tour event, posting a strong five-under-par 66 on Sunday to record a two-shot win over Chile’s Ben Alvarado.

Hoge earned $32,000 for his play, a two-year exemption on the tour and a huge perk — an invite to this week’s RBC Canadian Open in Vancouver.

He nearly didn’t get there.

Hoge and buddy Ben Freeman blew into town from the tournament in Saskatoon in the wee hours of Monday morning. They got some faulty directions to the Monday qualifier at Elmhurst, and made their tee times by only 10 minutes.

“Ten wrong turns,” Hoge laughed Sunday night, trophy, a score of 16-under 268 and Open invite in hand.

Both played well enough to make it into the Players Cup and for Hoge, things really started to fall into place.

He opened with a 66 and for the week, cruised around four rounds at Pine Ridge with only five bogeys.

He was gold from five or six feet on the greens all week.

“That’s why you’re calling me right now,” said Bill Montigel, Hoge’s college coach at Texas Christian University. “He starts making those four- and five-footers, he’s really dangerous. It’s what he did when he won (a college tournament) in Austin and the same when he was third at the NCAA (in 2009).”

Hoge, who finished his Horned Frogs career with two tournament wins — he added Minnesota state amateur crowns in 2009 and 2010, not to mention two North Dakota match play titles — said he was focused on that element of his game at Pine Ridge.

“That’s what you need to win,” he said. “Last week in Saskatoon, I struggled with that on the weekend and that’s why I played bad. That’s been the focus here this week, every day after a round, I’d go to the putting green for 15 minutes and just hit five- and six-foot putts.

“To see the ball going in to the hole is confidence and they just kept going in today. It’s a great feeling.”

Even when nerves might have entered the picture on Sunday, Hoge seemed unflappable. On each of the last four holes, he managed to find trouble; an unplayable lie after a terrible shot from the fairway at No. 15, over the green at the par-3 16th, driving into the trees right on both 17 and 18.

Each time a par, never giving Alvarado or any of the other chasers a chance.

“I just felt my game was sharp all around,” Hoge said. “I never really felt like I was out of a hole for par the whole way.

With his dad Chuck on the bag, Hoge started the day one shot back of 2006 MTS Classic winner Josh Habig and matched him pars for three holes. When Habig drove out of bounds and took a triple-bogey at the par-5 fourth, Hoge was the leader and was never caught.

“That’s awesome,” Habig said after shooting 72 and dropping to a tie for third. “Just turning pro… he was clutch out there. Every time he was tested he rolled in five footers, six footers, a gorgeous putt on 10 for par from maybe 10 feet.

“It looked like he struck the ball more steadily today than he did yesterday and he deserved to win, for sure.”

Often, a first-timer at Pine Ridge is simply gobbled up by the 6,610-yard course’s swerving, sloped greens. Hoge ate them up.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

LEADER BOARD

The Players Cup

at Pine Ridge

 

Tom Hoge -16

Ben Alvarado -14

Jae An -11

Brad Fristch -11

Josh Habig -11

Vince Covello -10

Adam Hadwin -9

Brian Prouty -8

Paulo Pinto -7

Yohann Benson -7

Russell Surber -7

Nick Taylor -7

 

Brad Kirton +1

Rob McMillan +1