# Scott Hoch

Scott Mabon Hoch (born November 24, 1955) is an American professional golfer, who represented his country in the Ryder Cup in 1997 and 2002.

## Early life

Hoch was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. While attending Needham B. Broughton High School, he won the 1973 North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) men's golf state championship.

## Amateur career

Hoch was a member of the golf team at Wake Forest University before graduating in 1978. In 1978, Hoch reached the final of the U.S. Amateur, losing 5 & 4 to John Cook. His good play earned him membership for top international team competitions like the 1978 Eisenhower Trophy and the 1979 Walker Cup. The Americans won both events. His achievements in 1978 led to an invitation to the 1979 Masters Tournament where he tied for 34th place, the second low amateur only behind Bobby Clampett.

## Professional career

Hoch turned professional in 1979 after competing in the U.S. Amateur.
Hoch has won several tournaments, including the Western Open, the Ford Championship at Doral, the Heineken Dutch Open and the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He also won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average in 1986. He has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
Hoch is widely known for missing a two-foot-long putt that would have won the 1989 Masters Tournament on the first playoff hole, which he lost to Nick Faldo on the next hole. At the 1987 PGA Championship, Hoch three-putted the 18th hole on Sunday from inside of ten feet. A two-putt would have secured a playoff spot for him.
Hoch is also well known for his infamous quote regarding playing in The Open Championship at the "home of golf" at St Andrews. Hoch referred to this course, considered hallowed ground by most golfers around the world, as "the worst piece of mess" he had ever seen. Partly due to his Open Championship criticism Hoch has been characterized as an "ugly American." However he has played extensively abroad and done fairly well, with three victories on the Japan Golf Tour, a victory at European Tour's 1995 Dutch Open, and multiple victories on the Korean Tour. He also has runner-up finishes at the 1987 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament, 1994 Casio World Open on the Japan Golf Tour, 1995 New Zealand Open on the Australasian Tour, and the 1996 Dutch Open.
Hoch is the rare American golfer who has criticized the Ryder Cup. Before his participation in the 2002 event he described the Ryder Cup as "overrated" and thought that the competition had gotten too "inflammatory."

### Senior career

In May 2007, Hoch won his first Champions Tour event, the FedEx Kinko's Classic. In February 2008, he won his second and third events in consecutive weeks.
In April 2019, Hoch won at the age of 63 the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf with Tom Pernice Jr. This first win in 11 years made him the oldest winner on the Champions Tour. Hoch's record held until October 2021, when Bernhard Langer broke it at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

## Personal life

In 1982, Hoch said that he feared he was going to die after an intruder came into his hotel room in Tucson, Arizona, held him and his wife, Sally, at gunpoint, and tied them up for an hour.
In 1989, Hoch said that he was "really hurt" after being named "Least Popular Golfer" in a poll of Tour players conducted by the Dallas Times Herald.

## Amateur wins

* 1977 Northeast Amateur

## Professional wins (23)
### PGA Tour wins (11)

| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
| 1 | Jul 20, 1980 | Quad Cities Open | −14 (63-66-68-69=266) | 3 strokes | Curtis Strange |
| 2 | Apr 25, 1982 | USF&G Classic | −10 (67-69-70=206)* | 2 strokes | Bob Shearer, Tom Watson |
| 3 | Jul 22, 1984 | Miller High Life QCO | −14 (67-67-66-66=266) | 5 strokes | George Archer, Vance Heafner, Dave Stockton |
| 4 | Apr 30, 1989 | Las Vegas Invitational | −24 (69-64-68-65-70=336) | Playoff | Robert Wrenn |
| 5 | Feb 20, 1994 | Bob Hope Chrysler Classic | −26 (66-62-70-66-70=334) | 3 strokes | Lennie Clements, Jim Gallagher Jr., Fuzzy Zoeller |
| 6 | Sep 3, 1995 | Greater Milwaukee Open | −15 (68-71-65-65=269) | 3 strokes | Marco Dawson |
| 7 | Jul 14, 1996 | Michelob Championship at Kingsmill | −19 (64-68-66-67=265) | 4 strokes | Tom Purtzer |
| 8 | Aug 31, 1997 | Greater Milwaukee Open (2) | −16 (70-66-66-66=268) | 1 stroke | Loren Roberts, David Sutherland |
| 9 | Apr 29, 2001 | Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic | −16 (68-68-67-69=272) | 1 stroke | Brett Quigley, Scott Simpson |
| 10 | Jul 8, 2001 | Advil Western Open | −21 (69-68-66-64=267) | 1 stroke | Davis Love III |
| 11 | Mar 9, 2003 | Ford Championship at Doral | −17 (66-70-66-69=271) | Playoff | Jim Furyk |
*Note: The 1982 USF&G Classic was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.
PGA Tour playoff record (2–2)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
| 1 | 1989 | Masters Tournament | Nick Faldo | Lost to birdie on second extra hole |
| 2 | 1989 | Las Vegas Invitational | Robert Wrenn | Won with birdie on fifth extra hole |
| 3 | 1995 | Shell Houston Open | Payne Stewart | Lost to par on first extra hole |
| 4 | 2003 | Ford Championship at Doral | Jim Furyk | Won with birdie on third extra hole |

### European Tour wins (1)

| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
| 1 | Jul 30, 1995 | Heineken Dutch Open | −15 (65-70-69-65=269) | 2 strokes | Michael Jonzon, Sam Torrance |
European Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
| 1 | 1989 | Masters Tournament | Nick Faldo | Lost to birdie on second extra hole |

### PGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
| 1 | Nov 14, 1982 | Taiheiyo Club Masters | −10 (73-70-66-69=278) | 3 strokes | Masahiro Kuramoto |
| 2 | Nov 28, 1982 | Casio World Open | −6 (72-71-69-70=282) | 1 stroke | Tsuneyuki Nakajima |
| 3 | Nov 30, 1986 | Casio World Open (2) | −12 (67-72-68-69=276) | 6 strokes | José María Olazábal |
PGA of Japan Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
| 1 | 1985 | Casio World Open | Wayne Grady, Hubert Green, Nobumitsu Yuhara | Green won with par on second extra hole Grady and Yuhara eliminated by par on first hole |

### Korean Tour wins (2)

* 1990 Korea Open
* 1991 Korea Open

### Other wins (2)

| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
| 1 | Dec 14, 1986 | Chrysler Team Championship (with Gary Hallberg) | −32 (61-63-64-63=251) | 1 stroke | Mike Hulbert and Bob Tway |
| 2 | Dec 14, 2008 | Merrill Lynch Shootout (with Kenny Perry) | −31 (65-60-60=185) | 4 strokes | J. B. Holmes and Boo Weekley |
Other playoff record (0–2)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
| 1 | 1985 | Chrysler Team Championship (with Gary Hallberg) | Charlie Bolling and Brad Fabel, Jim Colbert and Tom Purtzer, Raymond Floyd and Hal Sutton, John Fought and Pat McGowan | Floyd/Sutton won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2000 | Franklin Templeton Shootout (with Carlos Franco) | Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron | Lost to birdie on first extra hole |

### PGA Tour Champions wins (4)

| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
| 1 | May 6, 2007 | FedEx Kinko's Classic | −15 (67-66-68=201) | 2 strokes | D. A. Weibring |
| 2 | Feb 10, 2008 | Allianz Championship | −14 (67-67-68=202) | 1 stroke | Brad Bryant, Bruce Lietzke |
| 3 | Feb 17, 2008 | ACE Group Classic | −14 (68-66-68=202) | Playoff | Brad Bryant, Tom Jenkins, Tom Kite |
| 4 | Apr 28, 2019 | Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf (with Tom Pernice Jr.) | −23 (62-48-46=156) | 5 strokes | Paul Broadhurst and Kirk Triplett, Carlos Franco and Vijay Singh |
PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
| 1 | 2008 | ACE Group Classic | Brad Bryant, Tom Jenkins, Tom Kite | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2011 | Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Kenny Perry) | David Eger and Mark McNulty | Lost to par on second extra hole |

## Results in major championships

| Tournament | 1975 | 1979 |
| Masters Tournament | | T34 |
| U.S. Open | CUT | |
| The Open Championship | | |
| PGA Championship | | |
| Tournament | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| Masters Tournament | | T37 | | T27 | | T53 | | | CUT | 2 |
| U.S. Open | | CUT | WD | T48 | | T34 | | T36 | T21 | T13 |
| The Open Championship | | | | | | | | | | |
| PGA Championship | CUT | CUT | | T61 | T48 | T12 | T41 | T3 | T25 | T7 |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| Masters Tournament | T14 | T35 | | | CUT | T7 | T5 | 38 | T16 | T44 |
| U.S. Open | T8 | 6 | CUT | T5 | T13 | T56 | T7 | T10 | CUT | CUT |
| The Open Championship | CUT | | | | | T68 | | | CUT | |
| PGA Championship | T49 | T43 | CUT | T6 | CUT | CUT | T61 | T6 | T29 | T21 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Masters Tournament | CUT | T37 | CUT | CUT | |
| U.S. Open | T16 | T16 | T5 | CUT | T53 |
| The Open Championship | | CUT | T8 | | |
| PGA Championship | T74 | T7 | CUT | T57 | WD |
WD = Withdrew CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" indicates a tie for a place

### Summary

| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 13 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 23 | 16 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 24 | 17 |
| Totals | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 25 | 70 | 48 |
* Most consecutive cuts made – 10 (1983 Masters – 1987 PGA)
* Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (4 times)

## Results in The Players Championship

| Tournament | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| The Players Championship | T37 | T13 | CUT | T44 | CUT | T14 | T39 | CUT | CUT |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| The Players Championship | WD | CUT | | CUT | CUT | WD | T19 | 2 | T5 | T6 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| The Players Championship | T13 | T7 | T4 | | T42 |
CUT = missed the halfway cut WD = withdrew "T" indicates a tie for a place

## Results in World Golf Championships

| Tournament | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Match Play | R32 | QF | | R64 | QF | R64 |
| Championship | T7 | T17 | NT$^1$ | T23 | T70 | |
| Invitational | T23 | | T21 | T55 | T51 | |
$^1$Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = Tied NT = No tournament

## U.S. national team appearances

Amateur
* Eisenhower Trophy: 1978 (winners)
* Walker Cup: 1979 (winners)
Professional
* Presidents Cup: 1994 (winners), 1996 (winners), 1998
* Ryder Cup: 1997, 2002
* UBS Cup: 2001 (winners), 2002 (winners), 2003 (tie), 2004 (winners)