18 Things to Know about Tom Hoge from wife Kelly

Turns out the way to Tom Hoge’s heart was a 22-ounce prime rib.

Only, he didn’t order it. His date did – and she finished it, too. Every single ounce.

“Usually, girls are ordering salads and stuff and I ordered the biggest prime rib on the menu,” Kelly O’Brien recalls, laughing. “… It's so funny because everyone's like, 'Oh my God.' I'm a pretty petite person. But I have a high metabolism. I mean, I eat like a small horse.

“My husband's like, 'I'm sold. This girl's ordering prime rib on the first date. I'm done.'”

Tom and Kelly had known each other for quite a while before he picked the Montana State senior up in his parents’ mini-van and took her to that steakhouse in Chandler, Arizona, called The Keg. They met while playing junior golf events in Minnesota.

By the time they had their first official date, though, Hoge had already turned pro and won his first tournament on PGA TOUR Canada. They dated long-distance for a while, and after Kelly graduated, she joined him on the road as he played the Korn Ferry Tour.

“Growing up from up north, we both share a lot of the same interests,” Kelly says. “Our No. 1 passion is golf. … I know how hard he works and just to share that passion together, the golf, is really what drew me to him.

“And he's such a great guy and just so humble and so down to earth.”

Kelly caddied for her husband, who turned 35 on May 25, in several Monday qualifiers early during his career. One particularly memorable one was for The Honda Classic, where he was in solid shape at 6-under entering the final hole before hitting his drive right into the trees.

“There's water right before the green and I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, Tom, just punch out. Just play it safe. Play your percentage shot.' And he goes, 'No, I'm going for it,'” Kelly says.

“It’s so funny because he always sees the biggest window on the hardest shots, like whenever he is in the trees. And so, he punches out and he goes, 'Where'd it go?' I go, 'I don't know. I closed my eyes.' And he ended up hitting it on the green and he made the qualifier.”

The fact that Kelly played competitively adds a different dynamic to their relationship. While she tries to “stay out of the way” and let her husband and his teacher Scott Hamilton work on the big picture, she’s not afraid to speak up if his swing gets quick or across the line at the top.

Mostly, though, Kelly, who is in her husband’s gallery in every round, knows how difficult the game is and can empathize with the ups and downs of the sport.

“It's sure stressful watching it,” she says. “I know that because you can't control anything, and you just know how hard and demanding and how much time and effort the game takes. …

“A lot of people ask like, 'Hey, do you ever talk golf with him?' I'm like, 'Absolutely not.' It's like, who wants to leave the office and talk about work. But whenever he is done, I always bring up the positives and all the great shots he hit ... and never the negativity because golf is such a mental game.”

Kelly says she’s still “pinching myself” after Tom’s win earlier this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, his first on the PGA TOUR. And she’s happy to report that it helped people learn to pronounce his last name -- no more Hodge or Hog.

“When people ask, I always say ‘Hoagie,’ like the sandwich,” Kelly says. “They all pronounce his name correct now ever since he won, which is pretty cool.”

The Charles Schwab Challenge this week is a home game for Kelly and Tom, who settled in Fort Worth after he graduated from Texas Christian. The couple lives about 15 minutes from Colonial Country Club.

And does it surprise you that Outback Steakhouse is one of their favorite restaurants?

“To this day, I always order the biggest prime rib and my husband will get like the chicken breast,” Kelly says. “And the server will start … bringing the prime rib to my husband. And I’m like, no, that goes to me.”

No one knows a PGA TOUR pro better than their wives. Here are 18 things Kelly thinks we should know about Tom.

1. He was born in Statesville, North Carolina, but moved to Fargo, North Dakota, at a young age. He currently resides in Fort Worth, Texas.

2. Tom is the fourth PGA TOUR player from North Dakota and the first since 2003 when Patrick Moore played the TOUR.

3. He is a very intelligent person, graduating from TCU in 2011 with a double major in finance and accounting.

4. He is the ultimate college sports fan. Tom enjoys attending Horned Frogs football and basketball games when he is in town.

5. He won his first PGA TOUR tournament in February 2022 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

6. Tom is a very aggressive player and loves to aim at flags.

7. He eats like a kid, and he has never turned down dessert after a meal.

8. As for those desserts? His all-time favorite is the the chocolate lava cake – “It’s sinful,” Kelly says – at Roy’s at Pebble Beach. The couple loves to go and listen to the bagpiper as the sun sets there.

9. Tom and Kelly met through junior and amateur golf tournaments in Minnesota. He married Kelly in Marco Island, Florida, in 2017.

10. Kelly played college golf at Montana State.

11. Tom and Kelly love to play golf together. One of their most memorable vacations was a golf trip to Pebble Beach in July 2021.

12. He is a simple guy and a minimalist.

13. Tom loves to ski. The last few years he has gone to Vail, Colorado, for ski vacations. If it wasn’t for the busy golf schedule from January to March, he would spend more time skiing.

14. He has been told he looks like Peyton Manning.

15. Tom grew up playing just about every sport. He played basketball through his sophomore year of high school.

16. He has never met an ice cream he didn’t like.

17. Tom was excited to be the co-winner of the 2021 RSM Birdies Fore Love campaign. RSM makes a charitable donation on behalf of the player that has the most birdies over the course of the first nine events each season. He ended up with 141, tied with Talor Gooch, and both players received $300,000 for charities of their choice.

18. The charities Tom has supported over the years have included Cullen Children's Foundation based in Fargo, Gigi's Playhouse based in Fargo, the scholarship programs for the Minnesota Section PGA and the North Texas Section PGA and Cooks Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.