SCOTTSDALE – February 1, 2017 – Craig Hocknull compiled an impressive playing resume over his career. He adds another highlight beginning on Thursday when he tees it up in the 2017 Waste Management Phoenix Open, scheduled to take place Feb. 2-5 at TPC Scottsdale (Ariz.).
Hocknull, 42, PGA Director of Instruction at Outback Golf Academy in Gilbert, Ariz., earned the exemption after winning the 2016 PING Southwest PGA Championship at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz. He went wire-to-wire, finishing the 54-hole Championship with a 204 (-12) and a four stroke margin of victory. The title was Hocknull’s first Southwest PGA Championship win and the Waste Management Phoenix Open will be his first PGA TOUR event.
“This is a dream for me to play in a PGA TOUR event,” Hocknull said after winning the Southwest Championship in 2016. “I was able to get Web.com Tour status but haven’t ever teed it up in a PGA TOUR event. I figure when you get to check something off your dream list it’s pretty cool.”
With his Southwest PGA Championship victory last year, Hocknull has won all four Southwest PGA majors: the Southwest PGA Professional Championship (2011), the Arizona Open Championship (2013) and the Southwest PGA Match Play Championship (2013). He was previously honored as the 2013 Southwest PGA Player of the Year and the 2014 Southwest PGA Teacher of the Year.
In addition to the Southwest PGA Championship win in 2016, Hocknull finished as the runner-up in the Arizona Open Championship, where he lost on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to champion Brian Cooper.
This past November, Hocknull won the PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada at Port Royal Golf Club in Southampton, Bermuda. He finished the Championship with a 54-hole total of 209 that included a 66 in the third round, one of only of two competitors to break par in the final round. His margin of victory was five shots.
Off the golf course, Hocknull’s new golf training tool was named the best new product at the 2017 PGA Merchandise show held Jan. 25-27 in Orlando, Fla.
Hocknull’s first PGA TOUR start gets underway in the opening round on Thursday, Feb. 2 off the 10th tee at 1:10 p.m. His second round start time will be 9:00 a.m. off the 1st tee on Friday, Feb. 3. Following 36 holes the field is cut to the low 70 scores plus ties.
