Scott Hoch

Scott Hoch
Scott Hoch
Personal information
Full name	Scott Mabon Hoch
Born	November 24, 1955 (age 69); Raleigh, North Carolina
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Sporting nationality	United States
Residence	Orlando, Florida
Career
College	Wake Forest University
Turned professional	1979
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	23
Highest ranking	11 (April 6, 1997)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	11
European Tour	1
Japan Golf Tour	3
PGA Tour Champions	4
Best results in major championships;
Masters Tournament	2nd: 1989
PGA Championship	T3: 1987
U.S. Open	T5: 1993, 2002
The Open Championship	T8: 2002
Achievements and awards
Byron Nelson Award
Byron Nelson Award	1986
Vardon Trophy	1986

Scott Mabon Hoch (born November 24, 1955) is an American professional golfer, who represented his country in the Ryder Cup in 1997 and 2002.

Early life

Hoch was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. While attending Needham B. Broughton High School, he won the 1973 NCHSAA Men's Golf State Championship.

Amateur career

Hoch was a member of the golf team at Wake Forest University before graduating in 1978. In 1978, Hoch reached the final of the U.S. Amateur, losing 5 & 4 to John Cook.^[2] His good play earned him membership for top international team competitions like the 1978 Eisenhower Trophy and the 1979 Walker Cup. The Americans won both events. His achievements in 1978 led to an invitation to the 1979 Masters Tournament where he tied for 34th place, the second low amateur only behind Bobby Clampett.

Professional career

Hoch turned professional in 1979 after competing in the U.S. Amateur.

Hoch has won several tournaments, including the Western Open, the Ford Championship at Doral, the Heineken Dutch Open and the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He also won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average in 1986. He has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Hoch is widely known for missing a two-foot-long putt that would have won the 1989 Masters Tournament on the first playoff hole, which he lost to Nick Faldo on the next hole.^[3] At the 1987 PGA Championship, Hoch three-putted the 18th hole on Sunday from inside of ten feet. A two-putt would have secured a playoff spot for him.

Hoch is also well known for his infamous quote regarding playing in The Open Championship at the "home of golf" at St Andrews. Hoch referred to this course, considered hallowed ground by most golfers around the world, as "the worst piece of mess" he had ever seen.^[4] Partly due to his Open Championship criticism Hoch has been characterized as an "ugly American." However he has played extensively abroad and done fairly well, with three victories on the Japan Golf Tour, a victory at European Tour's 1995 Dutch Open, and multiple victories on the Korean Tour.^[5] He also has runner-up finishes at the 1987 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament, 1994 Casio World Open on the Japan Golf Tour,^[6] 1995 New Zealand Open on the Australasian Tour, and the 1996 Dutch Open.

Hoch is the rare American golfer who has criticized the Ryder Cup. Before his participation in the 2002 event he described the Ryder Cup as "overrated" and thought that the competition had gotten too "inflammatory."^[7]

Senior career

In May 2007, Hoch won his first Champions Tour event, the FedEx Kinko's Classic. In February 2008, he won his second and third events in consecutive weeks.

In April 2019, Hoch won at the age of 63 the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf with Tom Pernice Jr. This first win in 11 years made him the oldest winner on the Champions Tour.^[8] Hoch's record held until October 2021, when Bernhard Langer broke it at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

Personal life

In 1982, Hoch said that he feared he was going to die after an intruder came into his hotel room in Tucson, Arizona, held him and his wife, Sally, at gunpoint, and tied them up for an hour.^[9]

In 1989, Hoch said that he was "really hurt" after being named "Least Popular Golfer" in a poll of Tour players conducted by the Dallas Times Herald.^[9]

Amateur wins

1977 Northeast Amateur

Professional wins (23)

PGA Tour wins (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jul 20, 1980	Quad Cities Open	−14 (63-66-68-69=266)	3 strokes	Curtis Strange
2	Apr 25, 1982	USF&G Classic	−10 (67-69-70=206)*	2 strokes	Bob Shearer, Tom Watson
3	Jul 22, 1984	Miller High Life QCO	−14 (67-67-66-66=266)	5 strokes	George Archer, Vance Heafner, Dave Stockton
4	Apr 30, 1989	Las Vegas Invitational	−24 (69-64-68-65-70=336)	Playoff	Robert Wrenn
5	Feb 20, 1994	Bob Hope Chrysler Classic	−26 (66-62-70-66-70=334)	3 strokes	Lennie Clements, Jim Gallagher Jr., Fuzzy Zoeller
6	Sep 3, 1995	Greater Milwaukee Open	−15 (68-71-65-65=269)	3 strokes	Marco Dawson
7	Jul 14, 1996	Michelob Championship at Kingsmill	−19 (64-68-66-67=265)	4 strokes	Tom Purtzer
8	Aug 31, 1997	Greater Milwaukee Open (2)	−16 (70-66-66-66=268)	1 stroke	Loren Roberts, David Sutherland
9	Apr 29, 2001	Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic	−16 (68-68-67-69=272)	1 stroke	Brett Quigley, Scott Simpson
10	Jul 8, 2001	Advil Western Open	−21 (69-68-66-64=267)	1 stroke	Davis Love III
11	Mar 9, 2003	Ford Championship at Doral	−17 (66-70-66-69=271)	Playoff	Jim Furyk

*Note: The 1982 USF&G Classic was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

PGA Tour playoff record (2–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	1989	Masters Tournament	Nick Faldo	Lost to birdie on second extra hole
2	1989	Las Vegas Invitational	Robert Wrenn	Won with birdie on fifth extra hole
3	1995	Shell Houston Open	Payne Stewart	Lost to par on first extra hole
4	2003	Ford Championship at Doral	Jim Furyk	Won with birdie on third extra hole

European Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Jul 30, 1995	Heineken Dutch Open	−15 (65-70-69-65=269)	2 strokes	Michael Jonzon, Sam Torrance

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	1989	Masters Tournament	Nick Faldo	Lost to birdie on second extra hole

PGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Nov 14, 1982	Taiheiyo Club Masters	−10 (73-70-66-69=278)	3 strokes	Masahiro Kuramoto
2	Nov 28, 1982	Casio World Open	−6 (72-71-69-70=282)	1 stroke	Tsuneyuki Nakajima
3	Nov 30, 1986	Casio World Open (2)	−12 (67-72-68-69=276)	6 strokes	José María Olazábal

PGA of Japan Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1985	Casio World Open	Wayne Grady, Hubert Green, Nobumitsu Yuhara	Green won with par on second extra hole Grady and Yuhara eliminated by par on first hole

Korean Tour wins (2)

1990 Korea Open
1991 Korea Open

Other wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Dec 14, 1986	Chrysler Team Championship (with Gary Hallberg)	−32 (61-63-64-63=251)	1 stroke	Mike Hulbert and Bob Tway
2	Dec 14, 2008	Merrill Lynch Shootout (with Kenny Perry)	−31 (65-60-60=185)	4 strokes	J. B. Holmes and Boo Weekley

Other playoff record (0–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1985	Chrysler Team Championship (with Gary Hallberg)	Charlie Bolling and Brad Fabel, Jim Colbert and Tom Purtzer, Raymond Floyd and Hal Sutton, John Fought and Pat McGowan	Floyd/Sutton won with birdie on first extra hole
2	2000	Franklin Templeton Shootout (with Carlos Franco)	Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour Champions wins (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	May 6, 2007	FedEx Kinko's Classic	−15 (67-66-68=201)	2 strokes	D. A. Weibring
2	Feb 10, 2008	Allianz Championship	−14 (67-67-68=202)	1 stroke	Brad Bryant, Bruce Lietzke
3	Feb 17, 2008	ACE Group Classic	−14 (68-66-68=202)	Playoff	Brad Bryant, Tom Jenkins, Tom Kite
4	Apr 28, 2019	Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf (with Tom Pernice Jr.)	−23 (62-48-46=156)	5 strokes	Paul Broadhurst and Kirk Triplett, Carlos Franco and Vijay Singh

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	2008	ACE Group Classic	Brad Bryant, Tom Jenkins, Tom Kite	Won with birdie on first extra hole
2	2011	Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Kenny Perry)	David Eger and Mark McNulty	Lost to par on second extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament	1975	1979
Masters Tournament		T34
U.S. Open	CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament		T37		T27		T53			CUT	2
U.S. Open		CUT	WD	T48		T34		T36	T21	T13
The Open Championship
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT		T61	T48	T12	T41	T3	T25	T7

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	T14	T35			CUT	T7	T5	38	T16	T44
U.S. Open	T8	6	CUT	T5	T13	T56	T7	T10	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	CUT					T68			CUT
PGA Championship	T49	T43	CUT	T6	CUT	CUT	T61	T6	T29	T21

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Masters Tournament	CUT	T37	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	T16	T16	T5	CUT	T53
The Open Championship		CUT	T8
PGA Championship	T74	T7	CUT	T57	WD

Top 10

Did not play

WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

Tournament	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	1	0	2	3	5	18	13
U.S. Open	0	0	2	6	11	23	16
The Open Championship	0	0	0	1	1	5	2
PGA Championship	0	1	1	5	8	24	17
Totals	1	1	5	15	25	70	48

Most consecutive cuts made – 10 (1983 Masters – 1987 PGA)
Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (4 times)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Players Championship	T37	T13	CUT	T44	CUT	T14	T39	CUT	CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Players Championship	WD	CUT		CUT	CUT	WD	T19	2	T5	T6

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
The Players Championship	T13	T7	T4		T42

Top 10

Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Match Play	R32	QF		R64	QF	R64
Championship	T7	T17	NT¹	T23	T70
Invitational	T23		T21	T55	T51

¹Cancelled due to 9/11

Top 10

Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Eisenhower Trophy: 1978 (winners)
Walker Cup: 1979 (winners)

Professional

Presidents Cup: 1994 (winners), 1996 (winners), 1998
Ryder Cup: 1997, 2002
UBS Cup: 2001 (winners), 2002 (winners), 2003 (tie), 2004 (winners)

References

^ "Week 14 1997 Ending 6 Apr 1997" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
^ "Cook wins title over Scott Hoch". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Associated Press. September 4, 1978. p. 3C.
^ Gregory, Sean (April 9, 2008). "Hoch the Choke, 1989". Time. Archived from the original on April 14, 2008.
^ Morfit, Cameron (January 17, 2007). "Scott Hoch Speaks Candidly About Tiger, CBS and Frank Chirkinian". Golf Magazine. Archived from the original on March 9, 2011.
^ Shipnuck, Alan (July 16, 2001). "He's Got a Shot Scott Hoch, the last man you'd expect to take the British Open, moved into the ranks of the contenders with his Western win". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
^ "Scott Hoch – 1994". Official World Golf Ranking.
^ Ferguson, Doug (September 24, 2002). "Scott Hoch Gets Ryder Cup Attention". The Edwardsville Intelligencer. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
^ Strege, John (April 28, 2019). "Scott Hoch, 63, becomes oldest senior tour winner, teams with Tom Pernice to win Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf". Golf Digest. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Reilly, Rick (June 12, 1989). "Hoch As...in Choke". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2012.

External links

Scott Hoch at the PGA Tour official site
Scott Hoch at the European Tour official site
Scott Hoch at the Japan Golf Tour official site
Scott Hoch at the Official World Golf Ranking official site

[w199714-1] "Week 14 1997 Ending 6 Apr 1997" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved September 25, 2019.

[cwtosh-2] "Cook wins title over Scott Hoch". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Associated Press. September 4, 1978. p. 3C.

[3] Gregory, Sean (April 9, 2008). "Hoch the Choke, 1989". Time. Archived from the original on April 14, 2008.

[4] Morfit, Cameron (January 17, 2007). "Scott Hoch Speaks Candidly About Tiger, CBS and Frank Chirkinian". Golf Magazine. Archived from the original on March 9, 2011.

[5] Shipnuck, Alan (July 16, 2001). "He's Got a Shot Scott Hoch, the last man you'd expect to take the British Open, moved into the ranks of the contenders with his Western win". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 22, 2019.

[6] "Scott Hoch – 1994". Official World Golf Ranking.

[7] Ferguson, Doug (September 24, 2002). "Scott Hoch Gets Ryder Cup Attention". The Edwardsville Intelligencer. Retrieved May 11, 2019.

[8] Strege, John (April 28, 2019). "Scott Hoch, 63, becomes oldest senior tour winner, teams with Tom Pernice to win Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf". Golf Digest. Retrieved May 11, 2019.

[choke-9] Reilly, Rick (June 12, 1989). "Hoch As...in Choke". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2012.

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Early life

Amateur career

Professional career

Senior career

Personal life

Amateur wins

Professional wins (23)

PGA Tour wins (11)

European Tour wins (1)

PGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

Korean Tour wins (2)

Other wins (2)

PGA Tour Champions wins (4)

Results in major championships

Summary

Results in The Players Championship

Results in World Golf Championships

U.S. national team appearances

See also

References

External links