Scott Hoch, earlier
this year at the Doral Open, speaks out against three of the most famous venues
in golf. Allsport
At every dinner party, there
is one guest who doesn't like the dessert. In literary circles, there always
will be someone who doesn't appreciate Ernest Hemingway. In golf, there is Scott
Hoch.
The celebration of Y2K extends to the major championships, with the first three
played at some of the most storied venues in golf -- Augusta National,
Pebble Beach and the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Try telling that to Hoch.
"Of all the years I've
been out here, this is the worst sequence of courses that I can remember," he
said. "And now that Augusta is past, I've got no majors to look forward to."
Any year that the Open
returns to St. Andrews is a bad year for Hoch, who once referred to the Old Course
as a "cow pasture." It was hate at first sight, dating to 1979 when he played
the home of golf while traveling from the Walker Cup to the British Amateur.
As for Pebble Beach?
Indeed, it will be a special
week because it's his national championship and because his close friend, the
late Payne Stewart, would have been defending champion.
"But given that, it's not
one of my favorite courses," Hoch said. "I don't particularly care for Pebble."
Mention Pebble Beach and
Hoch doesn't think of holes that hang on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
His recalls six-hour rounds with amateurs in soggy, sloppy conditions that almost
always accompany the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
"Pebble is a great course,
but I don't like the team concept we have to play," he said. "The scenery is
great. The greens are very iffy, at best. If you've got a good partner, you're
lucky. I never did."
Hoch isn't exempt for the
U.S. Open for the first time since he can remember. He will have to qualify next
week after the Kemper Open.
"Let's just say if I don't
qualify, I won't be heartbroken," he said. "But I'm going to try."
He played the '82 U.S.
Open at Pebble and was near the lead in the second round until he tried to hack
out of the rough, tore cartilage in his chest and was out for two months. He
played again in 1992 and missed the cut by one stroke.
"Then I saw the (windy)
weather on Saturday and said, 'Yes!'" Hoch said.
Weather has little to do
with his disdain for St. Andrews. During his first round there, he asked his
caddie where the green was. The caddie pointed straight ahead.
"I said, 'Where do I aim
it?' And he said, 'Over there, on the other green.' That's what I remember,"
Hoch said. "The hole goes here, but you want to hit it over here."
Bobby Jones didn't like
the Old Course the first time he played it, and neither did Sam Snead. Both later
won the Open there.
Hoch won't win because
Hoch won't play.
"I'm not scheduled to appear
at this time," he said, unable to contain an impish grin.
Wasn't it in your contract?
"Uh ... I got a presidential
pardon."
Even though Hoch has played
the Open just three times in his 20-year career -- two of those were at St. Andrews
-- he says he doesn't have a problem with the other courses in the rotation.
"Like the one where Mark
(O'Meara) won, I thought that was fine," he said.
You mean Royal Birkdale?
"I don't even know the
names of the courses," he said.
And he really can't remember
any holes on the Old Course, except for the obvious. No. 1 is a short par 4 over
Swilcan Burn. No. 18 is a short par 4 that heads toward the Royal & Ancient Golf
Club.
And No. 17, the famous
Road Hole, is one that really sticks out.
"I think it's an awful
hole, and it goes against the rules of golf," Hoch said. "Where else do you not
get to drop off a paved road? I'm not one who believes that just because it's
tradition makes it right. If it applies everywhere else in the world, it should
apply there."
After his "debut" at St.
Andrews in 1979, Hoch returned in 1990 and was paired the first two days with
eventual Open champion Nick Faldo.
Details remain fuzzy.
"I can't remember if I
tried real hard every shot or not," he said. "But I remember making triple bogey
to miss the cut."
The final major of the
year is the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. Hoch thinks
it's a fine course for the public, but has no business as host of a major championship.
Not many would argue with
him there.
Otherwise, he'll have to
wait until 2001. The U.S. Open returns to Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa,
Okla., site of five previous major championships.
"I like that course," Hoch
said. "But man, it's going to be hot."
