Tom Hoge, we've got our eye on you.
The former TCU Horned Frogs golfer climbed his way up the leaderboard with a five-birdie, one-bogey 4-under par 66 in the first round on Thursday at the PGA Championship being played at windy Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He enters today's second round one stroke back of Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy. Well, at least currently. Things could change before he steps up to the tee box.
"Certainly could be a little more aggressive there with the wind laying down at the start, but it picked up pretty good there," Hoge said to reporters Thursday. "It was tough, but I live in Fort Worth, so just down the road a little bit, and feel like it's pretty similar conditions. I felt like I could judge the wind pretty well, and certainly felt comfortable with the wind that we had out there."
The wind hasn't stopped blowing here since, what, December?
The PGA Championship is the second of golf's four majors. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler of Dallas is 3 over for the tournament through 15 holes on Friday. Some guy named Tiger is at plus-4, a stroke back of the projected cut. He will need to pick it up today. Tiger tees off at 1:36 p.m.
Hoge tees off today at just a bit after 2 p.m. He's having a good year with a victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, a second at The American Express, and a fourth at The RSM Classic. Hoge is ninth in the FedEx standings and has won almost $3.6 million.
"I felt like the golf course was a little bit softer than I expected it to be," Hoge said of his first round. "The greens were very receptive out there.
"So certainly felt like you could go out and do it and shoot a few under par if you played well, and I was fortunate to do so."
Best wishes, good sir.
