One of three co-leaders after 54 holes, Hoge rebounded from a
double bogey at the par-3 fifth hole to card a 4-under-par 68,
landing him at 19-under 268 for the tournament.
That proved two shots better than Spieth, the three-time major
winner who spent some time alone in front on the back nine
Sunday. A tee shot into the sand led to a costly bogey for
Spieth at the par-3 17th as Hoge surged past him. Spieth carded
a final-round 69 at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Hoge, 32, finally broke through after playing on tour since
2015.
"I've always kind of got myself into position and then just felt
a little bit uncomfortable on Sundays out there," Hoge said on
the CBS broadcast. "So finally today I felt great the whole day
and felt real calm, kind of standing over those putts you need
to make down the stretch. It's awesome. You work through so many
hard times to be here and to finally pull one off feels
incredible."
He rolled his approach at No. 16 to 9 inches away from the pin
for a tap-in birdie. That moved him to 18 under to tie Spieth,
who was dealing with a sand shot one hole ahead of him.
Spieth's second shot at No. 17 bounced by the cup and stopped 5
feet away, but he blew his par save past the hole and dropped
out of the tie with Hoge.
Hoge capitalized at No. 17 by converting a 22-foot,
left-to-right putt for birdie to give himself the two-stroke
cushion.
"Really I was just trying to get two good looks for birdie on 17
and 18 and still expected Jordan to make a birdie or eagle on 18
coming up the stretch," Hoge said. "Putt was kind of a bonus.
You never expect to make that putt, a big swinging downhill putt
like that. When I hit it, I initially thought it was short, but
went right in the middle, it was pretty nice."
Despite the outcome, Spieth felt his tee shot at No. 17 was "my
best swing of the week."
"I hit the dead center of the face, high, kind of hold-straight
ball -- the wind just took it a little," Spieth said. "And it
was on the line where it would have actually not only bounced
towards the hole, it would have then fed left. ... In the air, I
was thinking this might lip out. And it hits the lip and goes in
the bunker."
Spieth's runner-up finish came less than two weeks after a
hospital stay for an intestinal infection.
"I'll look back and kick myself for not winning this
tournament," Spieth said, "just having the lead and looking back
at where the pins were on the last four holes... but certainly
if you told me I would have the lead on Sunday last Thursday, I
would have said I'll take that."
Beau Hossler posted a 71 to finish alone in third at 16 under.
Troy Merritt (67) and Patrick Cantlay (71) tied for fourth at 15
under. Cantlay birdied three of his first six holes Sunday to
tie for the lead, but he faded down the stretch and consecutive
bogeys at Nos. 15 and 16 took him out of the running.
Andrew Putnam, who entered Sunday tied atop the leaderboard with
Hoge and Hossler, only managed a 1-over 73 to tie for sixth at
14 under with Joel Dahmen (72) and England's Matt Fitzpatrick
(68).
--Field Level Media
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