Hoch as in Choke!

From the hearth - More an outtake really. Scott Hoch, a part of Masters lore, shot a nice two-under par 70 to open the 1998 tournament. He hit over 90 percent of the fairways that day, 13 of 18 greens and took 29 putts. When he came into discuss his round, the specter of his stunning 1989 loss naturally joined him.

Ralph Branca, Doug Sanders, Bill Buckner, Fred Snodgrass, the list of those with memorable momentary lapses is a part of the permanent record. Hoch assumes his place among them. Their foibles seep into their sport's consciousness until, with the passing of time, finally something else, something equally unexpected and improbable, jars them from the system. With all due respect to the personal torment, how dull things would be without such surprising codas to the great events.

Never shy, Hoch is invariably good copy. He once startled the pressroom after a dispiriting playoff loss by snarling: "Write it Hoch as in choke." On this day, April 9th, 1998, someone asked whether he thought the Masters "owes him one." Here then are the reflections of golf's most recent tragic (and in his case unsympathetic) warrior on the moment that keeps his infamous seat warm.

A: It doesn't owe anybody anything. You make your own breaks. I had my chance, I'll have it again. It's nothing that was unlucky to me. I mean, I wasn't unlucky with what I did in my golf game. If you look back on who won, he had some big putts and good breaks that last day. But I don't look at it that way. I just felt that the hand was dealt me, and I didn't play it correctly. I had a shot. Hopefully I'll have a shot again, whether it's here or another major. But I don't look at it as far as being owed anything.

Q: Do you think about it much?

A: Every now and then. Every now and then. Actually, the more I think about it, at my age, the less importance it has. You know, back then you really think a major is everything. And the older I get, I don't treat any majors any different that I do any other tournaments. You guys do. And if I won, that'd be great, it'd mean a lot more. But as far as how I prepare and how I treat it and how I go about playing, I don't treat it any differently now. That's why I started doing that and that's why I started playing better in the majors. Instead of getting there early beating my brains chipping, putting, when I got to the weekend I was exhausted, so now I just come in and play a practice round Tuesday, Wednesday, and the tournament starts. It's just a regular tournament.

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