Not as many people recognize Charley Hoffman since he cut off his long, white-blond locks a couple of years ago. The 38-year-old Southern Californian was asked about that decision after shooting a second-round 68 to stand alone in second-place at Masters.
“Well, my hair stopped growing on top like it used to, as you might know about,” Hoffman said to the balding reporter. “It wasn’t a great look, to be honest with you.”
Of course, Hoffman’s relative anonymity might be in jeopardy with him playing in the final group on the weekend at the Masters. He’s has played incredibly the first two days. He followed an opening-round 67 by playing bogey-free for 17 holes on Friday. Oddly enough, despite recording a 9-under score of 135 over 36 holes, he still trails leader Jordan Spieth by five shots heading into the third round.
“He putted beautifully, ironed it great, kept it in play,” said Savannah’s Brian Harman, who played with Hoffman the last two days. “He kind of got a break on the last hole. He hit a great chip shot. It’s going to be tough for anybody to catch Jordan this week but he’s playing well enough to do it, for sure.”
Hoffman’s only mishap was on the 18th hole. His approach shot out of the pinestraw right of the fairway came up 26 yards short. He hit what he thought was the perfect pitch to the sloping tier behind the hole. But it didn’t roll back and Hoffman had to settle for a two-putt bogey from 34 feet.
“As a golfer, you always want to play a bogey-free round and I had that going at Augusta, which is nice,” he said. “I definitely wanted to get that ball up and down.”
As it is now, Hoffman has to figure out how to run down the hottest golfer on the planet who’s holding a five-stroke lead with 36 to play.
“You’re watching one of the best players in the world play good golf, so obviously you can feed off home and hopefully I can try to catch him,” said Hoffman, who’s playing in only his second Masters. “I’m not going to be able to catch him in two holes, so I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing.”
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