Bryan Hoops (Golfweek Photo)
Story by Julie Williams of GolfweekAllow Bryan Hoops to annotate the leaderboard from the Golfweek Senior Division National Championship with just a few notes.
Though his three rounds of 69-74-69 might suggest a second-round fumble to set up a final-round charge for the victory, Hoops didn’t see a lot of difference in his game from start to finish at Desert Willow Resort’s Mountain View Course in Palm Desert, California.
Hoops, the 56-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, felt he struck the ball well and missed few shots – but for some putts, he admits. He won the event at 4 under, one shot ahead of Trae Cassell of Rancho Santa Fe, California. John Brellenthin of Dallas was third at 1 over.
But the story is nuanced.
“One thing you can’t see on paper that people don’t see when they’re looking at scorecards is the wind blowing 25, 30, 40 mph,” he said. “Yesterday, no different from any other day, I hit it really well but two separate holes, medium par 3s, I just hit shots into the wind that I guess I just miscalculated. I thought the wind was going to do one thing and it didn’t and I put myself in a bad spot and made a double on one of them and another one I made a triple.
Hoops played his first Golfweek senior event in February, the Pirates Classic at TPC Tampa Bay (Florida). He went five extra holes with Bob Royak, the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur champions, before Royak eventually won. Hoops now has a little bit of redemption after winning in Palm Desert, and he’s about to tee it up again at the Golfweek Senior Amateur, which starts at Desert Willow’s Firecliff Course on Friday.
Hoops turned 55 on Feb. 28, 2024, which aged him into most senior national competitions. Some players have that milestone circled and starred on their calendar, but for Hoops, it took a bit of adjusting. Hoops has carved out his place in elite amateur golf and hated to give up his spot in the amateur, mid-amateur and partner tournaments he has played for years. He has competed in plenty of USGA championships and still feels competitive outside the senior circuit.
“To add a big full senior schedule wasn’t an easy thing for me to do,” he said.
As a result, Hoops felt 2024 was a thin year of competition. He played the Trans-Miss Senior Amateur, where he finished second, and also competed in the Canadian Senior Amateur and qualified into the U.S. Senior Amateur for the first time. At the latter, he lost in the first round of match play to a talented Canadian amateur, Dave Bunker, when he made bogey on the last hole. That one still stings and he vowed not to make the same mistake again.
Hoops recognizes that, like all competitors, he has a short window of advantage early in his senior career. Where Hoops may be different, however, is that distance is in no way a challenge.
“I do things that I feel are stretching my career,” Hoops said. “I don’t know anybody that hits it farther than I do constantly. It’s a big advantage.”
One of those things is competitive environment, and the sheer distance (nearly 1,000 more yards than the average senior tournament setup) that has become the norm in his everyday rounds. Hoops, whose career has been in commercial IT, is a member at Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, where many professionals from all tours (PGA, Champions and Korn Ferry) test their games. It is not uncommon for Hoops to tee it up with Jon Rahm or Wyndham Clark, and that has gone a long way in sharpening his game and his competitive drive.
“These guys are great guys, they are down to Earth and they’re also very generous with their information and support,” Hoops said. “Like today, winning, I’m getting text messages from guys that are getting ready for the Masters. That’s really cool.”
Hoops truly loves this life of competing as an amateur, as evidenced by the way in which he talks about playing his favorite events as well as the way he spent the hours after his Golfweek victory at Desert Willow. It was important for Hoops to gather with fellow competitors, have a drink and catch up. That’s tradition, as far as he’s concerned.
Interestingly, Hoops has made it to the final stage of PGA Tour Championship Q-School five of the past six years. Five full tour cards are awarded at the end of that tournament and Hoops has twice finished sixth. He finds himself in the odd spot of being motivated to test his game on that highest level, but also feeling conflicted when he came close to earning a card – and thus facing the very real prospect of going out on the road for half the year as a touring pro.
“It was actually stressful for me to sit there and think … what if they give me a full card for 27 events?” he said. “This is a problem. I got work, I got things, I got commitments, I got family. I have to give up my amateur stuff that I’m exempt into? That I play in?”
The experience gave Hoops some pause about whether he would enter Q-School again. Amateur golf and all the wonderful people he’s met playing it may be too much a part of him at this point. He’s too invested in his family and the freedom he has to choose which events he plays and when.
“I have so much on the amateur side and I have so much fun and I have so many friends and commitments,” Hoops said, “it would be hard.”