Hoch looked to old caddie and found a win
By Lauren Deason, PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator
BOCA RATON, Fla. -- At last year's SAS Championship in Cary, N.C., Scott Hoch and his caddie, Greg Rita, were warming up on the driving range before the pro-am.
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Suddenly, Rita was stricken by a seizure, hunched over and went completely still. Hoch accompanied him in the ambulance to the hospital where, on the way, Rita had several more seizures.
"It didn't look like he was going to make it. It didn't look good," Hoch said, who asked for prayers for Rita following his round. Six weeks after the first seizure, Rita was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and today is still fighting through rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.
Rita, a well-liked caddie amongst his colleagues, is "one of the best guys out there," Hoch said. "He caddied for a bunch of major wins, including Curtis Strange and John Daly."
Naturally, Hoch didn't want to replace Rita, but he had to call in some reinforcements while Rita is out of commission. After poor showings during the first two weeks of the 2008 Champions Tour season, Hoch asked an old friend for help.
Hoch called upon his former PGA TOUR caddie, Damon Green, to carry his bag at the Allianz Championship this week and, hopefully, spot whatever has been wrong with his game lately. Though Hoch was finally healthy in Hawaii and had just switched to new clubs, he couldn't get it going in the season's first two events.
Green had caddied for Hoch for four years on the PGA TOUR before landing a gig with an up-and-coming Nationwide Tour graduate in 2004. That young golfer turned out to be Zach Johnson, who picked up wins at the 2007 Masters Tournament and AT&T Classic with Green on the bag.
The renewed duo of Hoch and Green also turned out to be a match made in heaven.
"I felt great the first few weeks and I played terrible. I didn't think I could play that bad when I felt fine," Hoch said. "And I just really wanted him to help me out, just see if he could see anything. I had no idea anything like this -- I know it's possible but not probable -- [would happen] after the way I played the past two weeks."
"This" turned out to be a win at the Allianz Championship, where Hoch shot 14 under par over three days for his second Champions Tour victory. Win No. 2 was a hard-fought effort, as Hoch emerged from a crowded leader board to take home the title.
On a blustery Sunday, Hoch at first changed his game plan to include low shots that would cut through the wind. Eventually, though, he decided that the two bogeys and one birdie he made while using that method just weren't hacking it.
"On No. 15 I said, 'Let's just try to hit normal shots.' After that, I couldn't have hit the ball any better," Hoch said.
His ball-striking improved, as did his putting. Just last week, after a trip to the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, Hoch learned he had been using a putter that was ill-designed for his putting stroke. So he switched to the Futura, a Scotty Cameron design he used during his last PGA TOUR victory.
"They have a putting machine [at the Leadbetter Academy] and they take all these pictures and come back with all of this computerized feedback," explained Hoch. "My stroke was not any good and I wasn't rolling the ball well. It was very inconsistent how the ball was coming off.
"I switched to the Futura -- I was the first one to win with that putter -- and ... tried that on film. He taped it and [learned] that is so much better for my stroke right now."
Indeed it was. Hoch drained several long putts on the back nine, including a 22-footer on No. 17 to give him a one-shot lead. Following one of the "best shots he'd ever hit in his life", Hoch and Green "read [that putt] perfectly and it went in at the perfect speed."
Hoch knew that a birdie on No. 18 would likely win it. His tee shot was perfect, he landed his second shot just 23 feet from the pin on the par-5 18th hole and he two-putted for birdie.
Three straight rounds in the 60s -- 67, 67 and 68, to be exact -- gave Hoch the win and 248 points (good enough for third place) in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race. The tournament, conducted at The Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, Fla., is a few hours from the North Carolina native's adopted hometown of Orlando.
This is Hoch's second win on the Champions Tour in nearly as many seasons. He turned 50 in 2006 but only played two events in his first year because of hand injuries, and captured his maiden victory in his first full-season at the 2007 FedEx Kinko's Classic. An 11-time PGA TOUR winner, that win was his first since the 2003 Ford Championship at Doral.
"I guess I like the grass here in South Florida better than Hawaii," he said. "Man, that had me baffled there."
But he certainly wasn't baffled this week. Brad Bryant, who tied for second with Bruce Lietzke, couldn't have said it better.
"I've known Scott a long time. He's a really good player. He's very straight, a good chipper and a good putter," Bryant said. "When Scott's playing well, he has no weaknesses. He's also very good under pressure. When he's in the hunt and playing well, he will make good swings."
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