NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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Every golfer at some point or another makes a putter change hoping to turn fortunes around. Few get quite the kind of feedback and return that Rico Hoey has benefited from this fall.
Hoey – a 30-year-old Philippines-born, California-bred pro in his second full season on the PGA Tour – was struggling to retain his card for 2026, having missed the FedEx Cup playoffs after a season that produced eight missed cuts and only two top-10 finishes in 24 regular-season starts. He entered the FedExCup Fall season ranked 106th in points and needing to move into the top 100.
Already an elite ball-striker who ranked behind only Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa in strokes gained tee-to-green, Hoey’s putting was holding him back. He ranks 177th and dead last on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting. At the regular season-ending Wyndham Championship, Hoey lost more than 10 strokes putting, which ultimately led to his decision to experiment with a long putter while he sat out the playoffs.
Hoey broke out the broomstick at the first fall event in Napa, California, and posted a promising T9 finish.
“With the long putter I thought it would be kind of hard to adjust to, but it’s like you just set up to it and it’s kind of easy,” Hoey said after making an “unheard of, for me” 90 feet of putts in the second round of the Procore Championship. “It’s been kind of nice. My coach, Marcus Potter, and my caddie [Bryan Martin] just sent it over during the off weeks and yeah, it’s been great. … Yeah, it’s nice to make some putts, finally.”
Then at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan and the Bank of Utah Classic, he finished T4 and solo second, respectively, to not only secure his tour card for 2026 but vault into the Official World Golf Ranking top 100.
“To have three top-10s out of the four weeks it’s incredible for me, so I’m really happy where I’m headed,” he said after shooting 67 in the final round at Black Desert Resort in Utah.
“I did not expect this quick of a return, especially finishing second now. It’s been kind of a rough season for me with putting. I’ve always just been a great ball-striker and I feel like I drive the ball great, but just putting-wise has always been too streaky. This year I just didn’t make enough putts.
“I think I just putt horribly. They sent a bunch of broomsticks. We asked like Titleist and all these other companies to send broomsticks and I show up to the house and there it is, so I’m like, I didn’t think it was that bad, but I tried it out during that month off.
“I ended up breaking two course records with it within the first two weeks. I’m like, all right, I think this is it. It’s been great. It’s been good to me. Just going to keep working hard with it. There are some things I need to keep working on, but, yeah, it’s been great.”
The Scotty Cameron zero-torque broomstick hasn’t turned Hoey into an elite putter, but his competence with it has only bolstered his usual strengths and brought out more consistent good results. After a T21 finish in the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico, Hoey had climbed all the way to No. 58 in the FedExCup Fall standings with two events left, in position to lock up at least two signature-event starts next season at Pebble Beach and Riviera as one of the Aon Next 10 players in the fall standings.
Scott Michaux