I was going to post this yesterday, but D&D went unusually late (10:30 or so my time), so I had to push back this submission to today. Apologies for the wait. It's too bad I don't have any social networks that are usable to notify you all about changes to my posting schedule--or, for that matter, such a schedule in itself--ever since I dropped Twitter/X this past July.
Anyway, this is the day on which the 2023 Upper Midwest Connection of the Year is revealed! First, though, we must pay tribute to the guy who finished a close second...
Number 2: Tom Hoge, Fargo, North Dakota
Starting OWGR: #36
Current OWGR #61
Final FedEx Cup Eligibility: #45
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 2
Top 25s: 6 on PGA Tour, 1 on DP World Tour, 1 co-sanctioned by both (Scottish Open)
Majors: Masters, MC; PGA, T58; U.S. Open, MC; Open Championship, MC
Cuts made: 18/26 plus 2/2 on DPWT-only events (Irish Open, BMW PGA Championship)
Upper Midwest Connection of the Week titles: 6 (including retroactive)
For much of 2023, I was going to award Tom Hoge a repeat as Upper Midwest Connection of the Year (retroactive to 2022, when he had won at Pebble Beach). And he definitely got off to a hot start, tying for third at the Sentry Tournament of Champions (in its final year under that name) and making four straight cuts before MCing at the Phoenix Open. He then capped off the West Coast swing with another top-15 finish at the Genesis Invitational. His biggest accomplishment of the year, though, was that 62 at TPC Sawgrass, which set a record for as long as the Players Championship has been held there (1982-present). He had dug himself into a hole in the first two rounds of the event, but it still helped him to a tie for third.
Sadly, that was where the wheels kind of came off. He took the next week off and then went 0-3 at the final WGC Match Play, then missed the cut at both the Masters and the RBC Heritage. Though he went on to make his next four weekends, he didn't crack the top 40 in any of them, and his top-40 drought eventually extended to nine starts before a T19 at the Scottish Open. Even then, he stumbled in glory's last shot, missing the cut at the Open to finish 1-for-4 in majors in terms of making the cut. Nevertheless, he kept striving, and two of his last three starts of the 2022-23 season proper (excluding FedEx Cup Fall) were top-25 finishes. Even the one that wasn't (the FedEx St Jude Championship) saw him do well enough to crack the BMW Championship and earn a trip to all eight signature events in 2024, including a return trip to the Sentry.
And of course, his best second half of the year finishes were ahead of him. A T14 at the DP World Tour's BMW PGA Championship was his first top-fifteen finish worldwide since the Players. Then, upon returning to America, he did one better (T13) at the Sanderson Farms Championship before shutting things down after the Zozo Championship two weeks later in Japan. His globetrotting alone would earn him an honoured place on this list, but add to this his many achievements--especially early in the year--and you've a bona-fide First Team All-Umcee honoree.
Edward the Scop
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