THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 16, 2025

Tom Hoge

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. What was working well today, and how do you feel about just the round and the week as a whole?

TOM HOGE: Yeah, everything felt pretty good today. I would say I felt really good about how I played the last two days. Both rounds I bogeyed 9 on Friday and then missed a few short putts yesterday to finish, but I felt like I really played nice, just didn't get as much out of it as I would have liked.

I started off today, made about a 15-footer for par on the first hole, had another nice par save on 4 from probably 10 feet, so made a couple nice putts off the bat to get some momentum going.

I felt like I've driven it well, hit my irons really well, if just get that putter going and I'd be in really good shop, and it probably would have turned out better than I thought today.

Q. How do you spend the weather delay and how many times did you visualize that birdie putt?

TOM HOGE: I just kind of checked out, just hung out upstairs in dining and I really didn't think about it a whole lot, to be honest with you, just wanted to get away from it. We've hit that putt a lot, so get out and get focused here in the warmup that we had as we got going. Felt like I hit a pretty good putt, just would have liked to have a little more pace to it.

Q. Why do you like this course or why does this course like you?

TOM HOGE: That's a good question. I don't know. I feel like obviously my iron game is the strength of my game, which I feel like you've got to be really good at around here, hitting into some smaller areas. I feel like if you can be sharp with your irons, you can get a lot of good birdie looks, hitting into some of these smaller areas of the greens.

I would also say it's a golf course where you don't have to hit driver a lot. I didn't feel like I hit very many drivers today, a lot of 3-woods off tees. So everyone is kind of playing to the same spots, and then from there it's who can hit your irons the closest, which I like my chances at.

I think the other thing is I have a little bit more conservative game plan here, trying to stay out of some of these tricky areas where you can get short-sided around the greens, and I think it's paid off pretty well for me.

Q. In your heart do you feel like you still have a chance?

TOM HOGE: Probably not, to be honest with you. Rory is out there with six holes left, and it feels like the wind maybe died down just a little bit here, a little bit softer conditions. Certainly don't expect a whole lot out of it.

Q. Is this going to be some good momentum, just trying to get Ryder Cup points, move up and into majors season?

TOM HOGE: Yeah, for sure. Every week is big out here. Try to get in the top 70 first off and get in the playoffs and then try and keep moving up into each round. It just seems like every week out here there's so much to play for, and a finish like this, get a lot of points on the board, can go a long ways.