Fargo's Tom Hoge finds himself surrounded by Minnesotans at the Masters

AUGUSTA, GA. — There is quite a convergence of Upper Midwest golf cognoscenti this week in Augusta.

On Thursday night, Fargo's Tom Hoge hung out at the house rented by his Minnesota-based golf agent Jim Lehman and his brother, Minnesota golf legend Tom Lehman, along with a group of Minnesotans who have been attending the Masters for about 30 years.

On Friday morning, Hoge hit his approach to the right of the second green, and it came to rest on a thick layer of the green absorbent the Masters uses after rainstorms. Hoge asked whether he could take a drop onto something closer to real grass. The official who arrived to make the ruling was Mark Dusbabek.

Dusbabek is from Fari­bault and played linebacker at the University of Minnesota and for the Vikings. He's now one of the more prominent rules officials on the PGA Tour.

Hoge birdied the difficult first hole, then chipped from that green absorbent well enough to make a tap-in birdie. After two holes, he was 2 under for his round and 1-under for the tournament.

"I wasn't expecting to get relief there," Hoge said. "I was just checking just to see. Just a little bit of unknown with the stuff they put down here for where everybody's walking. It was kind of right in the spot where I knew I wanted to miss it coming right up the hill there. So, I knew I had a pretty good backstop to kind of hit it into and hit a good shot. It was fun."

The course and his round got rougher after that. He would shoot a second-round 74 and is at 3 over par entering the weekend.

Winds increased during the day and began howling as Hoge finished his round in the early afternoon. By the time he reached the scorer's office, hats and pairing sheets were flying around the course like confetti.

"When we were hitting the second shot on the 17 straight downwind like that, I really noticed it," Hoge said. "No. 18 was quite challenging. It's going to be a tough afternoon for a lot of guys."

Hoge had a vocal cheering section. The gallery ropes at No. 14 create a cul-de-sac at the top of the hill, where patrons are not allowed to move between the 14th green and the 15th tee box. When Hoge made birdie on the 14th, it seemed everyone standing by the ropes cheered.

Former Gopher Erik van Rooyen, of South Africa, made double bogey on No. 15 to finish with a 79 and at 7 over overall. This is his second Masters. He withdrew because of a back injury in 2020.

Hoge said he hasn't gotten any Augusta National course knowledge from Tom Lehman, the former top-ranked player in the world, but that he leaned on other players, like Jordan Spieth.