But Liz Hoffman hasn't always appreciated others' reactions to The Hair. Moms are sensitive that way.
"People get the wrong opinion looking at him, and I don't like that it drags down people's opinions," Liz said. "It's the 'dumb blond thing.' I kind of think people think that if you have long hair you're not responsible or dedicated. People think of hippies, and Charley is far from that.
"So much of it from the beginning was about the long hair. I'm like, 'Can you guys get to know Charley?' The guy has a lot to say. He's well spoken. He's not stupid.
"I'm glad he finally got to the point where they could talk to him instead of about him."
The reversal of that fortune has a date: Jan. 21, 2007, the Sunday of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.
In weather only a camel could love at the Classic Club in Palm Desert, Calif., the wind was bending the flagsticks with gusts up to 40 mph, and Charley Hoffman looked like a Bedouin, that long hair cloaking his face like a scarf. He was a shot off the lead with two holes to play, but he birdied the 17th and then eagled the 18th from 11 feet.
John Rollins, playing in the last group, birdied the 18th to force a playoff with Hoffman, and then to the raucous delight of the dozens of family members and friends who had come from San Diego to watch him, the Poway High alum made a 4-foot birdie putt on 18 to win on the first extra hole.
"Definitely the survivor," Hoffman said afterward, and no truer could his words have been.
Hoffman, 30 at the time, had finally tasted victory on the PGA Tour seven years after turning pro. He did it in the first start of his second full season in the major leagues, and became the first player since Arnold Palmer in 1960 to win the Hope in his first try.
When last year's check ceremony and the interviews were over, the Hoffman entourage headed home to San Diego and partied at a packed Pacific Beach bar until late. "The highlights came on ESPN, and we all watched it again," Liz Hoffman said. "The place erupted."
Hoffman's victory was a popular one. It struck a chord with fans who craved a new character to root for on tour. National radio host Jim Rome put Hoffman on his show, good-naturedly needled him about his "mullet," and gushed afterward about what a good guy he was. Hoffman's friends showed up at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines with newly printed T-shirts with Hoffman's likeness and a twist on the tour's promotional line, "This Guy is Good." At other tournaments, college-aged dudes, total strangers, livened up the gallery with blond wigs.
"It was pretty crazy," Hoffman said. "Now you walk through the airport or down the street, and people recognize you. But it's nice to have people know who you are."
What fans have come to find out is that Hoffman is something of a paradox. Off the course, he is every bit as laid-back as he looks. Flip-flops and shorts are his standard attire at home in Las Vegas, and when somebody asked him last week if he'd read the PGA Tour's new drug-policy handbook, he admitted he hadn't and quipped, "If Bud Light's not on the banned list, I'm going to be all right."
On the range and the course, though, it's another story. Liz Hoffman recalls that as a kid, Charley had to be in the middle of all the action. He played All-Star baseball until high school, and he loved being the catcher or the pitcher. In soccer, which he played through club and varsity at Poway, he favored either forward or goalie - score or be the last line of defense.
When he ultimately chose golf as his full-time sport, it's because it offered a challenge the others didn't.
"It was the hardest sport for me to play," he said. "You never had anybody to lean on, and the only person you could ever blame was yourself if you had a bad day."
"Oh, he's competitive, whether it's playing with me or somebody else. He always wants to win," said Shawn Callahan, Hoffman's swing coach at the Butch Harmon School in Las Vegas. "At the Harmon School, we like guys who don't give up, and Charley's trying to make birdies all the way to the end. If you're doggin' it, you're not going to make it out there."
It is his doggedness that kept Hoffman going through some terribly lean years. He played the minitours in 2002-03, and he entered the 2004 season with zero status. He got into some Nationwide Tour events that year the hard way, through Monday qualifying, had some strong finishes, and then broke through with a victory in Midland, Texas, that changed everything.
Hoffman finished among the top 30 on the money list to earn his PGA Tour card, and in his rookie year in 2006 he posted five top-10s, made $1.1 million and finished 82nd in money.
Ironically, his golf was probably better in his first year than last season, when he was 50th in money. The $900,000 victory at the Hope accounted for more than half of Hoffman's $1.68 million earned, and he posted only one other top-10 finish. He ranked 10th on the tour in birdies, but suffered some ugly numbers too. Hoffman averaged more than one double bogey or worse per tournament, making 38 in 30 starts.
"Aggressive golf sometimes pays off. Phil (Mickelson) has shown that," Hoffman reasoned. "To win on the PGA Tour, you have to make birdies. Sometimes, there are consequences to that."
Still, Callahan said he and Hoffman continue to work on the weakest part of Hoffman's game - the driver. While highly regarded for his short game, Hoffman hit only 57 percent of fairways last year to rank 176th.
"We want to lose that big miss," Callahan said. "It just takes time and some confidence on the course. He can do it physically and on the range. Doing it under pressure is the hard part."
The Hope victory, accomplished so early in the season, also produced some different mental challenges for Hoffman. He was no longer a guy just battling for his card. He got into some more prestigious tournaments and was paired with some big names.
"All of a sudden your name gets mentioned with the Presidents Cup, and they expect you to play good each and every week," Hoffman said. "I might have put a little bit too much pressure on myself trying to play a little bit too much to get those Presidents Cup points, and playing a lot of tournaments I'd never played in.
"There's a lot more expectations you put on yourself and everyone else puts on you."
In the long run, Liz Hoffman likes her son's chances of sticking it out, for the same reason she likes The Hair. Charley wants to be more than ordinary.
"He likes the challenge. He's not going to take the easy road," she said. "It's why he's already come this far."
