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A Father-to-Be in the Middle of a Rebirth(part two)

“That’s been the biggest surprise,” Hoffman said, adding: “There’s no nervousness. I’m excited to start a new chapter in my life.”

The latest plot twists in Hoffman’s life were foreshadowed back when he was in high school in Poway, Calif., where he became the first golfer to win two California Interscholastic Federation titles and met his wife.

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At 17, he qualified for his hometown PGA Tour event, the Buick Open. Hoffman followed his childhood friends and fellow golfers Chris Riley and Bill Lunde to Nevada-Las Vegas and in 1998 helped the university win its second N.C.A.A. title, after its 1990 men’s basketball crown.

Hoffman turned professional in 2000, but his overnight success would be a decade in the making. For six years, he bounced around the minitours, at one point missing more than a dozen consecutive cuts on the Nationwide Tour, his status dipping to where he was relegated to Monday qualifying.

“I don’t remember ever thinking of quitting during that time,” Hoffman said. “But it was a little bit of a reality check and there was definitely a sense of, I think I’m good enough but I’m not getting results.”

Around that time, he began retooling his swing with Shawn Callahan, developing into such a pure ball striker that Riley, who practices with him, said the ball sounded different coming off Hoffman’s clubface.

In 2004, Hoffman’s tireless work began to pay dividends. He recorded his first significant victory as a professional at a Nationwide Tour event in Midland, Tex. The next year, he earned his PGA Tour playing privileges for the 2006 season, and in 2007 won his first PGA Tour event, the Bob Hope Classic. His second was his five-stroke victory at the Deutsche Bank, which he secured, fittingly, on Labor Day.

“You always wonder, Am I good enough to win out here?” Hoffman said. “And that first win sort of justifies being on the PGA Tour.”
 
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Of the Deutsche Bank victory, he said, “I’ve put myself in contention on Sunday plenty of times, and to beat the best of the best in the field, it was like I had learned from all those experiences.”

In 2007, Hoffman was on the range at the T.P.C. Las Vegas when Riley, who rose as high as No. 22 in the world, in 2004, asked him if he thought he could crack the top 10 in the next three years.

Hoffman said, “Sure, why not?” at which point Riley reminded him of all the reasons it was highly unlikely.

“We were trash talking,” Riley recalled by phone, “and I told him it didn’t matter how hard he worked, the top five weren’t going anywhere and he had no chance.”

Laughing, he added: “I didn’t even think Charley was paying that much attention to it. I guess I get a little bit of credit for motivating him.”

After missing the cut in four of his first six events this year, Hoffman, No. 51 in the latest rankings, was the hottest golfer in the country in the weeks before the United States Ryder Cup roster was determined, with three top-10 finishes over the summer.

He played himself onto the shortlist of players being considered by Corey Pavin, the United States captain. When he was not chosen, Hoffman was disappointed. But on the bright side, he did not have to worry about becoming golf’s version of Gilles Simon, the tennis player whose girlfriend went into labor four weeks early and delivered the couple’s first child in France this month while he was at the United States Open.

“It definitely would have been tough with the timing,” Hoffman said.

Not making the Ryder Cup team freed Hoffman to accept an invitation to throw out the first pitch before a San Diego Padres home game next week against theChicago Cubs. The Padres have a payroll that is among the lowest in the league and were not expected to do much this season. In its baseball preview section, Sports Illustrated described the team as “equally poor on the mound and at the plate.”

So which is more improbable, the Padres in the thick of the National League pennant race or Hoffman in the thick of the FedEx Cup race?

“To tell you the truth, I think it’s the Padres, definitely,” Hoffman said, grinning. “Because I always believed in my game.”

Stacy Hoffman, who walked the East Lake Golf Course on Thursday and Friday despite the sticky heat and her swollen ankles, said her husband was the same carefree guy she met at Poway High, with one exception. He had short hair then. Now his blond locks fall below his collar and have become a conversation piece, with fans showing up in his gallery wearing blond wigs.

“Some of the people are friends, but some I don’t even know,” Hoffman said.

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His gallery this week includes his mother, Liz, who was easy to spot during the second round; she was the one wearing the “Hoffman: This Guy Is Good” T-shirt and affably replying to anybody who remarked on it, “Are you a Hoffman fan?”

On Thursday, Hoffman wore a shirt that was the same lime-sherbet color as the ones worn by the tournament volunteers. How fitting. No matter where Hoffman finishes on the FedEx Cup list, his regular-guy status is secure.

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