Hoffman's charge to victory brings some joy back to San Diego  PGATOUR.COM Contributor PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Seven days ago the city of San Diego went into a deep funk when the Chargers lost a last-minute heartbreaker to New England in the AFC playoffs. This week, thanks to Charley Hoffman, it has a last-minute conquering hero.  Charley Hoffman celebrated with tournament host George Lopez. (Marc Feldman/WireImage)
Twenty-five days after celebrating his 30th birthday, Hoffman made a four-foot birdie putt at the 18th green of the Classic Club, clinching a one-hole playoff triumph over John Rollins and making the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic his first PGA TOUR title. "Hopefully I can change the low spirits in San Diego," Hoffman said of the city where the TOUR heads next week for the Buick Invitational. "I still wore my Chargers hat to dinner last night, hoping they somehow didn't lose that game." Hoffman and Rollins tied at 17-under-par 343, a score traditionally good enough for only the fifth or sixth page of the Hope leader board. But peak winds around 40 mph kicked up enormous dust clouds across the Coachella Valley and inflicted severe pain on the players. The Sunday scoring average of 74.763 was akin to a U.S. Open weekend. "I've seen wind this hard before," Hoffman said. "Usually I go inside after it's blowing this hard, though, and don't play too much." It was the Hope's highest winning score since Steve Jones in 1989, a time when most players used wooden drivers and wound balata balls. The conditions benefited Hoffman's muscle -- he ranked 10th last season in driving distance (304.4 yards). In the playoff, at the 543-yard 18th, Hoffman uncorked a 366-yard wind-aided drive while Rollins' 297-yard effort rolled under the lip of a fairway bunker. About 30 minutes earlier he'd cracked a 372-yard drive to end regulation. Hoffman began the day in fourth place, four back of Justin Rose (76-344) and Lucas Glover (80-348). He lurked as high as third late in the back nine yet "didn't really think I had a chance with two holes to play." But Hoffman birdied the 176-yard 17th after watching Jeff Quinney make a hole-in-one in the same group and drained an 11-foot eagle putt at the last. Rollins, playing in the day's last group, had to birdie the last hole to tie. The playoff was anticlimactic. Hoffman two-putted from 37 feet after Rollins' drive wound up beneath the lip of a fairway bunker. Rollins tried to extend the overtime but his 31-footer for birdie drifted wide left. Although wowed by his first TOUR win, Hoffman downplayed his career accomplishments. He was "pretty steady" while attending Poway High School but lacked a "stellar junior career." Still, he at age 16 he became the youngest Buick Invitational qualifier. He then went to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, a freshman on a team led by seniors Chris Riley and Chad Campbell. "There were times I was left off the traveling team," he recalled. "There were about 12 really good players, and now four guys who have won on TOUR: Chris, Chad, Adam Scott and me." Hoffman turned pro in 2000 but took six years to reach the TOUR. He earned his Nationwide Tour card directly out of college, "which is a good advantage to step right out there. But I'll be the first person to tell you I didn't know what I was doing and didn't have a clue out there. I just kept learning." In short order he'd lost that card and spent a few years finding whatever competition he could. It wasn't until 2004 that he was back to the Nationwide Tour but as a Monday qualifier. He won the Permian Basin Charity Classic that October in a playoff, capping what he calls "one of the best years I had in golf." "No one knows how hard it is to go to a different city on a Monday and try to qualify," he explained. "And if you don't qualify, you go to the next site the next Monday morning, play a practice round and try to qualify again. That's the hardest year of golf I ever had." Although he tied for 138th in the TOUR Qualifying Tournament at the end of 2004, it assured him of a full Nationwide card for 2005. From there Hoffman continued climbing, earning his TOUR card for 2006 by placing 19th on the Nationwide money list. The Hope was only his 41st career TOUR start, yet it represented his 11th top 25 and pushed him past $2 million in career earnings. Hoffman topped $1.1 million last year by continually raising the bar. He inched the best finish of his young career up from a tie for ninth in the Chrysler Classic of Tucson in February, to eighth at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship in May and Valero Texas Open in September. In his penultimate start last year, in the heart of October, he took fifth at the Frys.com Open in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas. Eight years removed from playing on the Rebel squad that had won the NCAA title, he'd finally established himself as a contender. That week also underscored Hoffman's affinity for the pro-am format that has made the Hope a mainstay. He placed second in the 2005 BMW Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs on the Nationwide Tour and fifth last year at Las Vegas. "I enjoy this format. I like getting to meet new people and you walk away with a bunch of new friends," Hoffman said. "A lot of guys don't like it, but obviously with my track record I'm going to keep playing in all of them that I can." He'll have plenty of friends gathering around him at this year's Buick. The Chargers? They're so last season. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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