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Not so great Scott

Hoch disappointed after struggles down the stretch

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Posted: Sunday March 28, 1999 09:59 PM

Green with envy: Hoch fell out of contention due to the fast and hard greens. Craig Jones/Allsport

By Michael DiRocco
Times-Union sports writer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH -- There may not have been a better -- or shorter -- way for Scott Hoch to describe his round than the way he did moments after leaving the 18th green Sunday.

"Expletive deleted," he said.

That's probably the best way to describe a round that had Hoch just one shot behind eventual Players champion David Duval with six holes to play, but ended with him tied for sixth after he lost four strokes. He missed his third consecutive top-five finish by just one shot.

And, like most of the field, Hoch blamed most of his troubles on slick, hard and fast greens.

"The greens got so fast," said Hoch, whose 3-over 75 Sunday left him at 2-over for the tournament. "I think I've only putted greens this quick once before. I had one from about 3 feet. When you putt it, you've got to putt it so easy. I read it to be straight. The ball broke out and hardly hit the hole."

Particularly upsetting to Hoch was the condition of the green on No. 17.

"I do feel it's kind of a joke," Hoch said. "I hit mine very easy, almost to the point I didn't think I hit it hard enough, and it went all the way over the green onto the fringe."

Green conditions aside, Hoch knew he had a chance at Duval after he recovered from a bogey on No. 2 by dropping to 2-under with birdies on Nos. 4, 6 and 10.

"I started out so bad -- I didn't have a swing," said Hoch, who finished tied for fifth last year and runner-up by seven strokes to Steve Elkington in 1997. "I just kept hanging in there and making all the putts, and then all of a sudden I started playing good."

Until he got to 13 and 14. Back-to-back bogeys, coupled with Duval's birdie on No. 12, left Hoch behind. Bogeys on No. 14 -- which played as the day's hardest hole -- and No. 16 -- which played as the day's second-easiest hole -- cemented his finish.

"It was just awfully tough out there," he said.

Hoch's finish, which earned him $161,875 to add to his $333,779.28 earned through seven previous tournaments this year, should get him on his way to his 17th top-40 finish on the PGA Tour money list in the last 18 years.

 

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