Hoch ready to be contender again

NEWPORT BEACH — For the winner of the Toshiba Classic a check for $247,500 will be the prize. But money isn’t really what it’s all about right now for Scott Hoch, who is making his debut at the event this week at the Newport Beach Country Club.

Hoch, who could be considered the Dan Marino of golf, flew in to Orange County from Florida late Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning he was still trying to work out the kinks. Perhaps that’s fitting, since this tournament is a means to an end. For Hoch, the Toshiba Classic is more of a stepping stone to a return to form.

Hoch is trying to round into form after dealing with surgery on his left wrist in October of 2005. The wrist is still not at 100% — he said it’s about 75 to 85% — but he believes he can become a consistent contender once again.

“I’ll come here and do the best I can and with the way I’ve played I think I can contend,” Hoch said after competing in the opening session of Pro-Am Wednesday. “I come here thinking I still have a chance to win. I’m not to the point that I think I have a real good chance to win.”

Hoch, who never won a major on the Tour, has been known for his consistency, at one point he was the No. 4 overall money leader.

But he never truly gained fame. He was probably mostly known for missing a two-foot putt on the first playoff hole against Nick Faldo in the 1989 Masters. Then Faldo won on the next hole.

But fame, Hoch said, may have not been for him because he never won a major, but he also blamed television exposure, or the lack of it, as he spoke with reporters Wednesday afternoon.

Then one reporter asked: Do you look at the Champions Tour to build on your legacy?

Some insight to Hoch was revealed.

“I don’t worry about legacies. I don’t know anything about legacies,” Hoch, 51, said. “I’m just playing because I want to play. I have not been able to play for awhile. I’m looking forward to playing and getting better. I’ve had some good spells, but I haven’t been consistent.”

The effects from the surgery have been throwing him off. He’s not sure if his wrist is strong enough at times, and other times it’s too strong.

It all stemmed from a calcium deposit on the back of his left hand. He said tendons moved across it and wore them down. Initially he was told he was merely feeling the effects of arthritis.

You would think he would grow frustrated. But that was not the case.

“I could take off and not worry about [golf], not miss it,” Hoch said. “At the end of many years, I wouldn’t touch a glove for two months. That was because it was my choice. When it got to where I couldn’t do it and it didn’t have anything to do what I wanted to do then it was frustrating and I was disappointed it took longer.”

Hoch enters No. 21 on the Champions Tour money list. He recently finished tied for seventh at Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am and tied for ninth at the Allianz Championship.

O’Meara was the Costa Mesa City champion in 1979, winning the annual event at the Costa Mesa Country Club. Also, O’Meara, who went to Long Beach State, will actually find himself rooting for the UC Irvine Anteaters very soon. O’Meara’s son, Shaun, signed a national letter of intent to play for UCI back in November.

Today’s Pro-Am has two starts, 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

The first round of the tournament begins Friday at approximately 10:15 a.m.

Hoch is grouped with Hale Irwin and Larry Nelson. Irwin is Toshiba’s only two-time winner (1998 and 2002). Irwin has six top-10 finishes in the event. In 32 rounds at the NBCC, 20 times he has shot in the 60s and his worst score is a 72.