As the 103rd Maryland Open neared its finish on July 10, Alex Hoffman already had his clubs and spikes in the car.
The former two-time state golfing champion for Middletown High had played three terrific rounds in the searing heat and humidity at Talbot Country Club in Easton to give himself a chance to win. But his three-day total of 4-under-par 269 seemed like it was going to fall just short.
As he chatted with a friend before driving away, Hoffman noticed from a distance that one of the leaders had just three-putted for bogey on No. 17.
“I went and put my spikes back on,” he said.
Before he knew it, he was part of a five-man playoff for the most prestigious title in Maryland golf.
It was the largest playoff the 32-year-old had ever been a part of in an accomplished golf career that had taken Hoffman from the highs of high school golf when he joined a short list of Maryland players to win multiple state titles, through the travails of college golf at the University of Memphis, to Columbia County Club, where he now works as an assistant pro.
“The kid is just all grit,” his mother, Mandy, said. “He is doing what he loves. Playing golf is his passion.”
Hoffman’s grit and determination paid off on the sixth playoff hole when he finally outlasted Jon Moles of Urbana to win the Maryland Open, comprised of 120 players from across the region, including Virginia and Pennsylvania.
“Probably the biggest [win] of my life,” Hoffman said. “The quality of the field, it’s both pros and amateurs. It’s all the best players in Maryland … There are some big names on that trophy, including Marty West, probably the best amateur to ever play in Maryland. I am just happy and proud to put my name on it as well.”
In the playoff, the player with the best score on the hole won. If there were ties, they moved on to the next hole. And the field quickly whittled down to Hoffman and Moles, an assistant pro at Worthington Manor Golf Club in Urbana.
On the sixth playoff hole, Hoffman had a putt for birdie that he called “the hardest 12-footer I ever had.” The stakes were high. The pressure was on.
In October 2007, Hoffman stood over a putt of similar length that became more important as time went on. It was on No. 18 in the high school state tournament at the University of Maryland Golf Course in College Park.
All he was trying to do back then was get his 15-foot putt close to the hole. But he wound up making it, which paid huge dividends. That birdie was his ticket into a playoff that he eventually won for the first of two state titles.
“All I was thinking is it was a good thing I made that putt,” Hoffman said.
This time, the birdie putt did not go down from 12 feet. But Hoffman did accomplish his imperative job of getting it close to the hole.
So, after Moles missed his putt for par, all Hoffman had to do was tap his in and he was the Maryland Open champion.
“My head was spinning,” Hoffman said after claiming the title. “I was being interviewed after it was over, and I could feel myself trembling a little bit. It didn’t really set in in that moment. It took a while. All the adrenaline was still flowing through me.”
The victory earned Hoffman $7,200, a trophy, eternal bragging rights and a little more name recognition back at work.
His schedule of golf lessons at Columbia Country Club filled up quickly.
“Yeah, I would say a few more people signed up,” he said.
