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Feeling Good: Healthy Hoch has his game back in order
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Published: May 12, 2008
Scott Hoch has that winning feeling again. He's on a hot streak on the Champions Tour, and the best thing about it is he's healthy.
Hoch is second on the tour's money list with two wins and five top 10s in 10 tournaments.
Once regarded as one of the most consistent players on the regular tour, Hoch is becoming just that again on the Champions Tour. The biggest reason for that, he says, is the lack of nagging injuries.
It was at the tail end of his PGA Tour days when Hoch had wrist, thumb and hand injuries that forced him out of golf for the better part of two years. With the surgeries behind him, including a tendon transplant in his left wrist, Hoch has found new life.
"I don't even have anything that's semi-hurt," Hoch said. "And for me that's unusual but I don't have any aches or pains."
The pessimistic Hoch warns that the good health and good play can end at any time. But, as befits his reputation of consistency, Hoch has found a groove.
Hoch, 52, did pretty well last year on the Champions Tour, playing in 22 tournaments and getting one win. With two wins already this year, he is definitely looking forward to the rest of season.
Hoch, a 1978 graduate of Wake Forest, is ninth on the all-time money list with just more than $20 million. It wasn't that long ago when he was in his mid-40s he was still a factor on the regular tour and at one time was fourth on the all-time money list.
His formula for success isn't that much different than it was on the regular tour.
"I might practice a little less, but I try to do the same routines in getting ready for each week," he said. "I think one thing that might even help me this year is I'm required to just play in one of the pro-ams each week so that means I'm a little more fresher."
Hoch makes it clear that he doesn't just show up for tournaments and play.
"You can't do that, even out here on this tour," he said.
Hoch plans on playing this week in Birmingham, Ala., before playing in the first major of the season at the Senior PGA Championship.
When it's mentioned that Hoch never won a major on the regular tour, he quickly interrupts saying: "It's not the same kind of major."
While it would be satisfying for Hoch to win a major on the Champions Tour, he's a realist about what it means. "It's the best that we have and, sure, it would be nice but I can't rank it up there with winning a major on the regular tour," Hoch said.
Next April it will be 20 years since Hoch missed the two-foot putt on the first playoff hole that would have beaten Nick Faldo at the Masters. While it's unfair to Hoch that he's remembered most for that miss, it should be noted that hardly anybody in his era was as consistent.
During a 20-year span from 1982 to 2002, he finished inside the top 40 on the money list every year. He won 11 times on the PGA Tour.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that he lists It's a Wonderful Life as one of his favorite movies.
As for how his career has turned out, Hoch, a Raleigh native, said he never dreamed that it would last this long.
"I wanted to be successful," he said about turning pro in 1979. "You don't know for sure what might happen, but I'm happy that I was able to be as consistent as I was on the regular tour."
As for the Champions Tour, if his play is anything like it was on the regular tour, look out.
"I'm on a good streak right now," he said. "I just hope to ride it out and see what happens."
Pettit fundraising tourney
When I used to work at The Courier-Tribune in Asheboro and started to write about golf, Jim Pettit was the golf writer at the High Point Enterprise. I leaned on him for advice a lot during that time because he knew his stuff, and still does.
Pettit, who left High Point to be an assistant sports editor at the Observer-Times of Fayetteville is having health troubles.
One of his good friends, Howard Ward, is holding a tournament to raise money for Jim's doctor bills. Pettit is awaiting a heart transplant and is on a long list.
The captain's-choice tournament will be held June 6 at Bayonet at Puppy Creek, which is located between Pinehurst and Fayetteville.
For information call 910-988-8040.
Around the green
Wake Forest, ranked No. 19, will begin regional play on Thursday in the NCAA Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio. The Deacons are one of 27 teams in the regional, with the top 10 teams advancing to the NCAA Championship.
Coach Jerry Haas of the Deacons said: "There are no weak teams here. Ohio State is the 19-seed in the regional and they're playing on their home course, so you can throw that seed out."…
Gerald Wood and George Brendle of Winston-Salem teamed up to win the second flight of the Ray Monahan Match Play Tournament in Taylorsville. Wood and Brendle had to win four matches in two days to win the flight….
Raleigh's Paul Simson will be going for his third straight North Carolina Senior Championship starting on Tuesday at Cedarwood Country Club in Charlotte. Simson, 57, was the Carolinas Golf Association's player of the year in 2007. Others who are expected to contend are Bob Kulp and Logan Jackson of Winston-Salem. In 2006 Jackson was second by one shot to Simson at the Country Club of Salisbury.
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