Disillusioned with the state of his game at the back end of the FedEx Cup season, Mark Hubbard walked away from the FedEx St Jude Championship in August feeling frustrated and wanting a little time apart from golf.
The man who finished 69th in the FedEx Cup standings knew he would have three weeks off before coming back to try and boost his position in the FedEx Cup Fall series - an eight-tournament stretch where players can lock up or improve their playing eligibility for 2025.
Unfortunately for the man who refers to himself as @HomelessHubbs on X, a clumsy error in the days before the commitment deadline almost cost him a valuable start at the Procore Championship this week.
The 35-year-old from Denver admitted he dropped his phone into a cold plunge pool on Thursday evening and was without it until a mere 23 minutes after the commitment deadline had passed at 5pm on Friday. Unable to receive any kind of extension - given the window had been open for a long time before that - Hubbard resigned himself to entering Monday qualifying.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his talent, Hubbard carded the lowest round of the day at Yolo Fliers Club via a seven-under 65 and booked his spot in the field anyway - partially avoiding the embarrassing situation caused by his own ungainliness.
All's well that ends well 📱💦@HomelessHubbs dropped his phone in a cold plunge last week and missed the committment deadline for @ProcoreChamp as a result.He decided to enter the Monday qualifier to try and play his way in and carded the lowest round of the day 💪 https://t.co/bKBdcodWWr pic.twitter.com/fPztF3XlbeSeptember 9, 2024
Speaking to the PGA Tour about the whole incident, Hubbard explained how he ended up in a Monday qualifier when he is fully exempt this season after ending 2023 in 67th.
He said: “Short answer, I missed the commitment deadline on Friday by about 23 minutes. Had some technical difficulties with my phone; I dropped it in a cold plunge on Thursday, so I didn’t really have it for a while, but at the same time I probably should’ve committed a long time ago.
"I was pretty frustrated after Memphis (FedEx St. Jude Championship) and really just needed to check out from golf, and I did that, and it was a good thing for me mentally and physically for my game, but this is one of the things that fell through the cracks unfortunately. So I’m glad I hopefully took care of business today.
“I was pretty down in the dumps on Friday, but I feel like I recovered pretty fast and I came out here with a really good head on my shoulders and a good mindset coming into the day. I don’t feel like I would’ve done that even a couple months ago, so I’m pretty proud of myself for that … It’s definitely a learning experience.
"I hope I don’t do this again, and I almost feel bad taking a spot from somebody, because I should’ve just been in the tournament anyways. It’s a weird situation, but at the end of the day, I can take a lot of positives from it.”
Hubbard is yet to claim his maiden PGA Tour success - having come closest when finishing T2nd at the 2019 Houston Open - but floated through 2024 by barely missing a cut - going 21 for 23.
Perhaps his only disappointment this term would be the lack of top-10s, with just two for the campaign, but the San Jose State University grad has the chance to put that right near his wife's home town of Sacramento and is looking forward to teeing it up in front of friends and family.
He said: “It’s just one of my favorite events of the year. It’s an area that kind of feels like a second home. My wife’s from Sacramento, so all of her family comes out. I have a lot of family that come, and I went to school not too far away in the Bay area. So I have a lot of friends in the area too.
"It’s Napa too. I like wine; we call it one of the wives’ majors. It’s just a great week and it's one that I look forward to every year.”
