From the sixth-to-last pairing, PGA TOUR rookie and World No. 207 Lee Hodges carded an even-par 33-37=70 in R4 of The Honda Classic to wrap his tourney debut on 2-under 278, down two places to T9.
Four starts ago at the AmEx, the Alabama alum had a great shot at snagging his first TOUR win in his eighth start as a member, but settled for a first career top 10 (T3) after being an 18- and 54-hole co-leader. Understandably, he fell off a bit but comes back with a second career top 10 this week after handing in rounds of 71-66-71-70. The 26-year-old, the second-best finisher of 31 debutants and 26 rookies, tallied one eagle, T1 in that stat, and 13 birdies against eight bogeys, one double and one triple. For the festivities, he was in positive territory in all strokes gained metrics, including 22nd in SG: Putting (2.701) and 22nd SG: Tee-to-Green (4.505). Hodges is in the published field at this coming week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in Central Florida.