Charlie Hoffman had to play in this week’s Genesis Invitational after Tiger Woods refused a sponsorship exemption at last week’s WM Phoenix Open. He fell short of Nick Taylor in the playoffs, but qualified in second place.
When Hoffman arrived on the scene at Riviera Country Club this week, Big Cat was the first say hi to him.
“The first person I met in the locker room was Tiger. He said, ‘Good job, old man.'” He’s older than me, but I’m happy to do it,” Hoffman said ahead of the tournament.
Charlie Hoffman asked Tiger Woods for a sponsorship exemption from the Genesis Invitational, but was denied, but he still qualified as runner-up at the WMPO.
Woods was the first to greet Riviera in the locker room earlier this week. Hoffman says Tiger looked at him. pic.twitter.com/yuOOQ2PnJf
— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) February 14, 2024
Hoffman made his 17th start this week at Riviera, tying him with Matt Kuchar for the most starts in a FedEx Cup tournament.
The 47-year-old veteran posted a 67-68, 64-64 record last week in Scottsdale. This performance seemed to come out of nowhere as he struggled to start the 2024 season.
Hoffman’s best result this year was a T42 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He missed the cut at the American Express and finished 56th at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Hoffman was actually planning to go skiing with his family this week, but he had to take his wife and children with him.
That’s a good thing for him too.
He carried that momentum into the Tiger event and got off to a hot start. The four-time PGA Tour winner is at the top of the leaderboard at 4 under after 11 holes in Thursday’s first round. There’s still a lot of golf left, but it was a great start for a guy who wasn’t even in the field four days ago.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirls and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
