ST. SIMONS ISLAND (Ga.) – Mark Hubbard is the new iron man of the PGA Tour.
Im, who played in 35 Tour events in the league twice in the past five years, took it easy and settled for 31 this year. Hubbard, 34, beat Im to the iron man title by making a PGA Tour-record 39 starts in the 2022-23 season wrap-around (which included the FedEx Cup Fall so this number needs an asterisk but is still impressive).
He has a handle on X, formerly Twitter, that is @HomelessHubbs. Being a road warrior, he said, is in his nature. It probably stems from his parents’ divorce when he was only five and the fact that they shared custody.
“I just grew up moving back and forth from their homes, doing three days here and then.” “I feel that unknowingly, this kind of groomed my life for this and I’ve always felt very comfortable being an gypsy,” said he. “When I stay in one place or at home for too long, it makes me a bit stir crazy.”
Hubbard said that he had not intended to play so many fall events. He has enjoyed the Fortinet Championship, in Napa, California and the Sanderson Farms Championship, in Jackson, Mississippi. Hubbard played all seven FedEx Cup Fall tournaments this time around, and his number of starts was at an all-time-high. He wanted to qualify for the Signature Events 2024, so he started all seven events.
Hubbard said, “I felt like I spent, I spent the entire season on the edge of that barrier in order to get into the Top 50.” Hubbard finished 67 thin the FedEx Cup Regular Season, his second-best season in his career. He earned a place in the FedEx Cup Playoff Event in Memphis. In retrospect, I wished I had been a bit more rested before the playoffs.
He would have played less in the fall if he hadn’t been chasing a place in ‘The Next 10’, which guaranteed him entry into Nos. The top 51-60 of the standings qualified him for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he proposed to her and attended San Jose State University just up the road. He also qualified for the Genesis Invitational in Riviera (where he grew up and played golf with his brother).
“I probably would have played four fewer times in the fall if San Diego and Waste Management were the Signature Events but because these two events were so special to me, I was motivated by them to keep playing.”
Mark Hubbard at the Port Royal Golf Course, Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images).
Hubbard finished 67th in the FedEx Cup Fall. He enjoys playing more than practicing. Hubbard played four consecutive events this season, but never more. He said that he needs to take a week off after a long stretch of four weeks in order to get his game back on track. The most impressive thing about Hubbard’s iron man season was that he traveled with his wife, two children under three years old for a large part of the time. He said that the hardest part was probably those long stretches of time when he flew alone.
He said that if you take away the mental and physical fatigue from playing 39 events this year, it was the two-week stretches without seeing my friends.
What will Hubbard’s playing time be in 2024? He is unsure of the new calendar-year schedule, but believes he will be still a road warrior.
“Guys outside the top 50 will end up playing more than usual if they really want to get in to those [Signature] Events.” You have three weeks to qualify and then if they accept you, you will need to play the other events.
You shouldn’t. Homeless Hubbs will be the new Sungjae Im.
