Spieth narrowly missed out on tasting PGA Tour success for the first time since April as Tom Hoge pushed past him to claim his first tour victory in California; Victory secures Hoge a place at The Masters in April
Monday 7 February 2022 11:06, UK
Tom Hoge made four birdies on the back nine to pass Jordan Spieth and claim his first PGA Tour victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday.
One of three co-leaders after 54 holes, Hoge rebounded from a double-bogey at the par-three fifth hole to card a four-under-par final round of 68, landing him at 19-under for the tournament.
That proved to be two shots better than Spieth, the three-time major winner who spent some time alone in front on the back nine on Sunday.
A tee shot into the sand led to a costly bogey for Spieth at the par-three 17th as Hoge surged past him.
It's the 32-year-old Hoge's first win, in his 203rd start, after playing on tour since 2015.
"I've always kind of got myself into position and then just felt a little bit uncomfortable on Sundays out there," Hoge said following his victory. "Finally today I felt great the whole day and felt real calm, standing over those putts you need to make down the stretch.
"It's awesome. You work through so many hard times to be here and to finally pull one off feels incredible."
Hoge rolled his approach at the 16th nine inches away from the pin for a tap-in birdie. That moved him to 18-under and into a tie for the lead with Spieth, who was dealing with a sand shot one hole ahead of him.
Spieth's second shot at the 17th bounced past the hole and stopped five feet away, but he blew his putt to save par and dropped out of the tie with Hoge, who then sunk a 22-foot, left-to-right putt for birdie to give himself a two-stroke cushion.
Beau Hossler posted a final-round 71 to finish alone in third at 16-under. Troy Merritt (67) and Patrick Cantlay (71) tied for fourth at 15-under.
Cantlay birdied three of his first six holes Sunday to tie for the lead, but he faded down the stretch and consecutive bogeys at the 15th and 16th took him out of the running.
Andrew Putnam, who entered Sunday tied atop the leaderboard with Hoge and Hossler, only managed a one-over 73 to tie for sixth at 14-under with Joel Dahmen (72) and Matt Fitzpatrick (68).
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