After departing Masters, pro encounters every golfer’s worst nightmare

Tom Hoge got a terrible surprise when he unpacked his clubs at his next destination after the Masters: a mangled golf club after an airline didn’t give his checked bag the proper TLC it deserved.

Hoge, who won the Masters Par-3 Contest last week ahead of the championship proper, took his frustration out on Twitter, showing the damage to the club in the photo below.

“Well that’s a new one @AmericanAir,” Hoge tweeted. “Thought we just had the standard broken driver today.”

This is every golfer’s worst nightmare. Checked bag after checked bag gets thrown around by the good, hardworking folks at the airport. But don’t forget, they might have no idea how valuable the items inside the bag actually are.

In Hoge’s case, one of his irons died on that wall for a few of the others to survive. To make matters worse, based on the caption above, maybe Hoge’s driver was sacrificed as well? He sure makes it sound like it.

Hoge’s had a tough travel year.

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After setting the TPC Sawgrass course record (62) in the third round of the Players Championship in March, Hoge didn’t just have to rebook his flight after realizing he had made the cut, but, on his return home, he shared a photo of his legs being scrunched in coach.

Look, I’m not here to judge, but doesn’t Hoge deserve to be sitting first class? At the very least, a man who has made an estimated $15.1 million in his pro career and travels just about every other week should be getting upgrades to business or premium economy.

To the airline’s credit, American did respond to Hoge’s tweet with, “Oh no, that’s not what we like to see. DM your record locator and baggage info so we can take a closer look.”

Here’s to the airline taking care of Hoge for the damaged goods. And here’s to better travel luck for him in the near future — because, you know, a pro golfer sort of needs their clubs to be intact to do their job.

Nick Dimengo

Golf.com Editor