Ardmore’s Hodges enjoys successful golf season

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, October 14, 2020

For a while, Lee Hodges wondered if the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour season would resume after it slammed to a stop in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not only did it resume, but once it did, the Ardmore native played some of the best golf of his professional career, which took him to his first professional victory and a spot in the prestigious U.S. Open.

“A lot of hard work went into it,” Hodges said of his successful season, which came to an end last weekend with the final Korn Ferry Tour tournament of 2020. “I kind of ended last year the right way, and it fed into this year. I learned a lot from my first year to my second year (on the Korn Ferry Tour), being more comfortable and growing as a player. It was nice to see the results follow the hard work.”

Once the tour season resumed in mid-June, Hodges ran off a string of top-20 finishes, including two in the top 10. But his breakthrough came in Portland, Oregon, Aug. 9, when he won his first professional tournament, shooting 11-under-par to win the WinCo Foods Portland Open.

“I definitely felt like I had a chance (to win) every time I was teeing it up, but I don’t know if you ever think it’s going to happen,” Hodges said of his victory. “There are a lot of great players on the tour. I felt great about my game, and to have it all come together was pretty sweet.”

The win gave Hodges a spot in the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York.

Originally scheduled for June 18-21, it instead took place Sept. 17-20 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hodges said he enjoyed the experience, although he was disappointed in the way he played. He missed the cut after shooting 13-over par for his first two rounds.

“Obviously, it was cool to play in a major and see what that’s all about, but unfortunately, my game wasn’t in a good spot that week. But that happens sometimes. Everybody’s been telling me how great it is to play in it, but I’m looking forward to playing in the next one because I think I’ll perform a lot better.”

Even though there were no spectators at the famed golf course because of COVID-19 protocols, Hodges said it took him a couple of days just to get used to the major championship atmosphere.

“That’s probably the thing that took the most time adjusting to,” he said. “It’s easy to be a spectator and look at what’s going on, see all these guys, instead of focusing on what I need to do this week. No matter what it is, you’ve got to go into it like it’s another Korn Ferry event. You’ve got a job to do. It took me until Tuesday afternoon until I figured out I needed to snap out of it and figure out how to attack this course.”

Hodges’ season tailed off a little bit after his win. He continued making the cut for every tournament, but struggled on the weekend and finished around 30^th in most of the final few tournaments of the year.

“Everybody was congratulating me for making the cuts at the end of the year, but I was finishing around 30^th,” Hodges said. “You can get roped into people telling you how great you are when really you need to get a lot better. Two weeks in a row I was in the top 10 going into the weekend and finished 30^th. There’s little stuff here and there I can work on to get better around the greens.”

Hodges finished the year in fifth place in the Korn Ferry Tour standings. Normally, he would be rewarded with his PGA Tour card as one of the top 25 finishers in the points standings. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour decided to combine the 2020 and 2021 seasons and award PGA Tour cards at the end of 2021.

By virtue of finishing in the top 10, Hodges earned his place in at least four PGA Tour events next season but must maintain his top-25 status if he wants to gain his full PGA Tour membership next August.

Hodges said the grind of a long season caught up to him by the end of the year, and he is enjoying rest and relaxation before picking his clubs up again.

The Korn Ferry Tour hasn’t released its 2021 schedule yet, so Hodges doesn’t know when his next tournament is, but he said for now, he’s going to enjoy his friends and family and take a break for a month or so.

“I don’t know if it’s just everything that went on this year, but this is probably the most burned out I’ve ever been,” Hodges said. “I’m ready to get away for a while before I get back to it.”

Hodges thanked the support from his family and friends in North Alabama, and said he “probably gets more calls and texts on the Korn Ferry Tour than anybody.”

“Everybody from North Alabama has been great,” he said. “I really appreciate them all. I hope they know that.”