THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the winner of the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Tom Hoge. Moving up to No. 2 in the FedExCup standings talk about how it changes your goals now for the rest of the year.
TOM HOGE: Yeah, it was a strange year last year for me in that I missed a lot of cuts throughout the summer and then finished fourth at Liberty National, the first playoff event. That got me into the second event, gave me some confidence again.
And since then I played really well. I was fourth at Sea Island right before the break and then took some time off, but for me that was motivating more than anything that I wanted to work harder and kind of get in that situation a lot more.
I always felt like all the times I got in contention I felt like I've been a little bit too far back going into Sunday, if that make sense. I've always been four, five shots back and you really need a lot of things to go your way.
So for me, I was one back at Palm Springs starting Sunday, I was tied for the lead here today, I just felt a lot more comfortable in this situation today out there.
THE MODERATOR: Let's take some questions.
Q. If I heard it right on the TV you said you hadn't won anything in a long time and that you really didn't know how to celebrate. Have you given any thought to how you're going to celebrate?
TOM HOGE: I'm not sure, I haven't got that far, I guess. And Jordan was two shots in front of me there most of the back nine it felt like and you kind of always expected him to just keep making birdies. And I always still felt like I was still a little too far back.
But the putt on 14 was real big for me today. That I was able to make that one as well, get a little bit closer.
Yeah, it's fun. I haven't won, I won a couple mini-tour events since 2011 when I turned professional, but nothing like this.
Q. And you now get to go to the Masters. I know we were talking about Kapalua, but have you given any thought to the Masters?
TOM HOGE: No, I haven't got that far either. But with the recent good playing I was up to 64th in the world after Palm Springs, so that's been on my mind and I've been thinking about my schedule a lot as far as trying to make a push to get to Augusta. So I've been trying to work hard for that so this will be a lot of fun.
Q. What exactly are you thinking about if you're not thinking about celebrating?
TOM HOGE: Trying to make putts, man, it's hard out here.
Q. (No microphone.)
TOM HOGE: I would say I felt like I knew pretty much right where I was the whole way in from 14 on. I made the putt there on 14, big leaderboard right there, I was thinking I was one back. From 15 tee I could see Jordan was short of the green right there.
Then I saw him miss the putt on 17. I didn't know if that was for birdie or for par, but I knew worst case I was still going to be tied on 17 tee.
I was just trying to get two good looks at birdies from there. I made the putt on 17, saw that I was two shots ahead, it changed my game plan a little bit for 18, I could play a little more conservatively, but I felt pretty comfortable where I was.
Q. (No Microphone.)
TOM HOGE: Yeah, I did actually. I remember he holed that one last year, I think it was on Saturday where he made it. Similar pin. I knew if I just kind of put it out there right, let the wind blow it in a little bit and catch the ridge on the green it would work down there to the hole and luckily I hit a good shot.
Q. What club was it?
TOM HOGE: A little 9-iron.
Q. Can you share a little more about your connection with Jordan and Fergie has written the story about you teaching him how to play craps and him sort of deducing that you wouldn't back down in contention because of that. Any details you can share from that interaction?
TOM HOGE: Yeah, I didn't know a whole lot about that story until Doug told me we had played craps. That must have been 2015 or 2016 at the John Deere Classic. He's the only guy to this day I've seen win a lot of money while he's going to the bathroom. (Laughing.) So he's got that going for him.
But you know what, and then I played here last year in the final group with Jordan as well, so we've kind of had that going.
Michael Greller, his caddie, got up in the tree for me on the 72nd hole, because I had a ball stuck in the tree. So -- and then this year I hit the hybrid and I was right behind that tree again, so I was like, if anybody wants to go cut the tree down I'm fine with that.
Q. How much -- obviously this win's going to be satisfying no matter how it happens, but to chase down and beat a three-time major champion, how is that going to figure in your memory of this event?
TOM HOGE: Yeah, for sure. Jordan's a great player, I played with Patrick Cantlay and just tried to hang tough with those guys all day.
It was a tough grind out there. The wind was really tricky today getting the wind right and I had a few times I got frustrated, because I didn't quite time it right and had some gusts and the wind switched directions, which led to that double on No. 5.
But I hung in there really well, that wedge shot on 14 was really tough one getting the wind right there as well. So when I walked up and saw that I was pretty close to pin high there I was really happy. And to roll that putt in was great.
Q. When you win the Dakota Dunes Open, second start, right? Did you think it was, all right, this is pretty easy, I'll just keep doing this all the time? What do you remember of that tournament?
TOM HOGE: Yeah, it was actually the Players Cup in Winnipeg. I went from Saskatoon to Winnipeg.
Q. And you won.
TOM HOGE: I won there, it got me in the Canadian Open the next week and I was in Vancouver at Shaughnessy. And that was a wake up call real fast as far as how tough the golf courses are on the PGA TOUR and how good everybody is. I missed cut pretty badly that week, but that was big experience for me. Seeing the type of golf that it would take to play out here.
And I think more than anything when you start playing with PGA TOUR golfers it's eye opening that the shots aren't necessarily that much better, it's just the misses are so much better and they really manage their games well. So that was eye opening for me.
Q. Going back to 5, I wonder when you walked off there -- there's a lot of holes left, so I mean probably didn't think you had lost it, but it had to be a little bit deflating and how did you build yourself back up?
TOM HOGE: For sure. It was 5, I missed some makeable putts on 1 and 2 right out of the gates. I birdied 6 and 7, I followed it up real well. But you play the first seven holes here at 1-under par you know you're losing ground to the rest of the field. So I felt like I was still a ways back at that point.
And then the bogey on 8 really kind of got to me again. So that's where I felt like I just made too many mistakes early on to really be in the mix. And I was surprised, looking up, I think the first board that we saw there was walking down 9 fairway over by 14 tee box. And I think there were four guys tied at 16-under one shot ahead of me. So that was kind of a big boost for me to know that I was still right there in the mix with some hard holes to play ahead.
Q. Following up, I think you said you had some mini-tour wins since Canada.
TOM HOGE: I won the Canadian TOUR event. Last one I won was my home club I grew up on the Dakotas Tour, I think it was 2017 or 2018 I won the North Dakota Open at my home club, Fargo Country Club.
Q. And did you hit every green in regulation there like you did on the back nine here today there?
TOM HOGE: No, not sure about that one, but I played well. But I think that paid $10,000. This is a little bit better.
Q. Curious. I know Henry, your caddie. You thought waiting 11 years for another win, he's been waiting 23 years for a win.
TOM HOGE: Wow, I didn't know that.
Q. And just curious, you know, for years how did you get with him and how long?
TOM HOGE: Yeah, this is our fourth year together. He caddied for Charles Howell when I first came out on TOUR, we had been paired together a few times so I always knew Henry. And that would have been 2018 was the first year I kept my card, made the FedExCup.
I felt like I needed a little bit more help and hired Henry at that time. And I really have a lot of respect for Henry, he's helped me, more so, I would say, practice and manage my game really well and just helped me be more of a professional I would say. And just having that steady guy with me the whole way, we were right there, so feels great to get it done for him too.
Q. If I could ask about sort of the significance of winning here at Pebble with all the history and I know you played here before, but what does that mean to you and how do you think that will shape your memory of this five, 10, 20 years from now?
TOM HOGE: Yeah, it's awesome. So many great champions here at Pebble Beach. For me, we took a vacation here last summer I brought my dad, brother and wife Kelly out to play. So Pebble Beach is a special spot for us as well.
And I would say it's a spot for me that has really grown on me the last two years since we played the U.S. Open here in 2019 that -- I've never had a lot of success around this golf course, felt like I kind of figured out a little bit and really figured out I felt like it was a golf course that really suits my game well kind of around that time with the U.S. Open and now I played well here for two years in a row.
Q. (No Microphone.)
TOM HOGE: I just felt like for me if I can just get the ball in play off the tee you don't necessarily have to push it with drivers that much, but lay back a little bit and it's definitely a second-shot golf course which I feel like is the strength of my game.
Q. What did those green fees run you when you brought the family?
TOM HOGE: A lot. There was no discount for PGA TOUR player, that's for sure. (Laughing).
Q. Two things for you, you talked so much about your comfort level and you even said I think yesterday that your goal for the year was to keep putting yourself there more often. What did you learn or what did you figure out in Palm Springs, comfort level, and how did that apply, do you think today in terms of being in the hunt and all that.
TOM HOGE: Yeah, being in the hunt, I played a couple times with Tiger on Sundays, and you really can't practice for those moments. The energy, the excitement that you have in your body, you know.
For me the takeaways is always kind of hard to quiet my mind, quiet my hands, that sort of stuff with putting, whatnot. Every day's a little bit different, but I always, when you're getting in that situation once or twice a year it's hard to play your best golf on those Sundays.
So I felt like for me to get a win and to be sitting here finally I needed to do it more often and get up there in the mix a little bit more often, which is, it's hard to say, but I've been doing that pretty well here now with this whole season so far, going back to last fall.
But just being there a couple week ago in Palm Springs I had a little bit of those same nerves, excitement, that energy off the start and I calmed down pretty fast and I felt pretty good the whole day, but today I felt great right from the first tee.
Q. You felt better today going into the day than you did at Palm Springs?
TOM HOGE: Yeah, for sure. I would say that was probably the hardest night of sleep I had at Palm Springs, because I felt like I was playing great golf and I felt like it was my tournament to win. And I was very nervous on the first tee there, I felt great today. I felt very calm today. So it was a good day for me.
Q. On that note, just watching you go about your business you never looked like you're overly excited. You also never look like you're overly down if things go badly. What's going on inside? What aren't we seeing?
TOM HOGE: Yeah, that's all there. I can get mad. That's for sure. I think as I'm getting older now just, that's golf, you know? Whether it's the double bogey on 5 or making some of those nice putts, that there's so many tough golf shots out here ahead, still just keep your head down and keep going and you never know where you're going to end up.
THE MODERATOR: All right, congratulations once again to our 2022 champion, Tom Hoge.
TOM HOGE: Thank you. Thank you, guys.
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