Hoch’s Words As Much the Story as His Round

Scott Hoch spoke.

A year ago, he didn’t, at least not to the press.

A self-imposed boycott of the media, he said, because stories quoting him looked a little different in print than he remembered them coming out of his mouth.

After shooting a four-under-par 67 Thursday and finding himself tied for third place after the first round of the Nissan Open at Valencia Country Club, he did something he didn’t do last year when he led after the first round at Riviera.

He went to a press conference.

Not only that, but he was warm, open and funny.

“I did that last year just to let the press know that it’s not fun,” Hoch said. “And that they ought to be more responsible for what they write.

“The media just wasn’t being fair. If I screw up, I’ll be the first to admit it and you can write whatever you want but if I do something well, don’t cut me down for it. Or what was happening was I do something well and nothing was mentioned, if I mess up then it was blown way out of proportion.”

Hoch ended his boycott because he realized even if he didn’t speak to the press the stories would still be written.

“I learned that a lot of guys are going to write what they want anyway,” he said. “They can put any kind of slant on it they want, that’s the power of the press. At this time last year I finally had enough.”

Before Greg Norman’s collapse at the 1996 Masters, Hoch held the distinction of the most infamous Masters miscue. He missed a two-foot putt to win the 1989 Masters and lost to Nick Faldo in a playoff.

He blew a five-stroke lead in the 1995 Shell Houston Open and lost to Payne Stewart in a playoff.

As a result, Hoch (pronounced HOKE) became the victim of an unfortunate pronunciation of his surname.

“Hoch, as in choke,” the joke went.

“I did some things that made it easy to write that,” Hoch said. “What was I supposed to do, change my name?”

But Hoch has always managed to rebound. Three weeks after the 1989 Masters disaster, he won the Las Vegas Invitational in a playoff. In 1996 he won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average (70.08) and he earned a berth on the 1997 Ryder Cup team.

This year a bad back has limited Hoch to three events, but he has top-20 finishes in two of them, including a ninth-place at the Tucson Chrysler Classic last week.

On Thursday, Hoch not only spoke to the media, but spoke volumes on the course even though the 42-year-old, eight-time PGA Tour winner was the least famous player in a threesome with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

With gallery attention focused on Woods and Mickelson, Hoch quietly sneaked onto the leaderboard with a 40-foot putt for birdie on the 10th hole and a 20-footer for birdie on the 15th. He also had birdies at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 7.

“Scott played great,” said Mickelson, who also shot 67. “He didn’t miss a fairway.”

Woods shot 68, putting all three in the top 10.

“It makes it easier to play when you’re playing with guys like that,” Hoch said. “If you’re playing well, they tend to spur you on and if you’re not you want to play well so you don’t get embarrassed.”

And what about the added media attention associated with playing in such a popular group?

“They’re not taking my picture,” he said.