[PHOTO: Stan Badz]
Charley Hoffman may have lost the WM Phoenix Open in a playoff, but he did manage to win more than $US900,000, sneak into the Genesis Invitational and even show up Tiger Woods. That’s not a bad way effort.
The Tiger Woods Foundation will host this week’s tournament at revered Riviera Country Club and beforehand Hoffman went directly to the source when it came to attempting to snag a spot in the field. Unfortunately it didn’t work.
Hoffman admitted that he asked Woods for a sponsor’s invite to the Genesis Invitational, and the 15-time major winner rebuffed the request stating that it was already full. To make matters worse, Woods was one of those four exemptions.
“[Tiger] said, ‘They’re all taken,’ so I said, ‘I’ll play my way in,’ so I guess I did,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman’s second-place finish added 300 FedEx Cup points to his tally, bring his total to 315.65 and placing fourth him in the Aon Swing 5.
Hoffman found out about his Genesis berth while meeting with the press after the WM Phoenix Open. One reporter told him of the news to which Hoffman replied, “Did it? That’s awesome. I’m excited about that. I guess I’m playing next week and not going skiing.
“We were planning on going to Mammoth (a California skiing region) skiing for a few days. I guess we’re going to have to change those plans!”
Despite the playoff loss, Hoffman will be living it up in Riviera soon enough, especially when you consider the fact that he’s now 30th all-time on the PGA Tour’s career moneylist. This ranking doesn’t include LIV defectors, but $US34,484,336 is nothing to scoff at.
This might not be the most impressive second-place finish in golf history, but Hoffman did get the better of Tiger. What more could one want?
