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North Dakota's Tom Hoge practices with a Masters champ, picks up pieces of wisdom

Larry Mize, the 1987 champion, helped Hoge prepare for his second Masters appearance at Augusta National.

By Jim Souhan

April 4, 2023 at 10:11PM

Tom Hoge played in his first Masters last year. In a practice round this week, he had a chance to pick up insider Augusta National knowledge from 1987 champion Larry Mize. (Charlie Riedel, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

AUGUSTA, GA. - Tom Hoge, the rising golf star from North Dakota, played a practice round on Tuesday at the Masters with former champion Larry Mize.

Hoge and Mize are represented by the same agent, Jim Lehman, the president of Medalist Management, brother of renowned golfer Tom, and a fine amateur player himself.

That's how, in Hoge's second Masters, he wound up practicing with a player who could share valuable course knowledge.

Like: How to skip the ball across the pond in front of the 16th green.

Hoge and Mize played alongside Russell Henley and Ben Carr. All four honored the tradition of dropping a ball on the downsloping bank in front of the 16th tee and skipping the ball toward the green.

Only Mize's shot reached dry land.

"I guess you have to play here a few years to figure it out," Hoge said with a smile.

In his first Masters appearance last year, Hoge finished in a tie for 39th. He has played in 10 majors, with his best finish a tie for ninth at the 2022 PGA Championship.

He ranks 23rd this year in FedEx Cup points, and 26th in the world golf rankings, both remarkable achievements for a player from the Upper Midwest.

Hoge, 33, doesn't dwell much on past accomplishments as much as he plans for bigger ones.

"Yeah, I definitely want more," he said. "The biggest result of that is taking just very much a week-to-week approach, trying to play well each week and focus on that.

"I haven't really looked at that and where I stand in all of this. The beauty of golf, whether it's your first few years on tour or not, is you're trying to make the top 125 and get your card, then majors, and always looking ahead to next year's majors, Ryder Cup, stuff like that. There's always something to be shooting for, so I'll keep climbing."

He has won once on Tour (at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am), once in Canada (in 2011 at the Canadian Tour Players Club) and twice in other events (the 2017 Bobcat North Dakota Open and the 2022 QBE Shootout with partner Sahith Theegala.)

The AT&T victory launched Hoge on his current trajectory, qualifying him for the Masters. Tuesday, he played with Mize, who embodies the prestige of a green jacket.

Mize won only four times on the PGA Tour. Because one of those four was the 1987 Masters, he is playing at Augusta National this week at the age of 64, while being referred to as a former champ.

Experienced Masters contenders often say the key to playing the tournament well is knowing where to miss. Mize offered help with that.

"Yeah, he's got a lot of the little subtleties of the green that he knows," Hoge said. "Like on 18, you get on one side of the TV tower, and it's going to break a different way. So just little stuff like that."

Thursday, Hoge will tee off at 11:24 a.m. Central time and play alongside Phil Mickelson and Si Woo Kim.

Heavy rains are forecast for the weekend. "I feel like my game's in a really nice spot," Hoge said. "I'm excited to get out there and tee it up. With the weather forecast, you know that Thursday is going to be an important round, just to get a head start with what's ahead. Who knows from there?"