This golfer went from can’t-miss prospect to living in the jungle. This week, he’s back

Morgan Hoffmann hasn’t played a PGA Tour event since 2019. Now, he’s returning to the upper echelon of the sport — and just down the road from where he went to high school.

“It’s amazing to be back,” he told reporters ahead of the RBC Heritage. “I’ve been telling everybody I feel like a little 12-year-old kid again.”

Where exactly has Hoffmann been? It’s complicated.

Strange as it may sound, as Golf Digest revealed in a feature article last month, the former top-ranked amateur golfer has spent the last couple years in the jungles of Costa Rica (yes, really), practicing alternative medicine to treat muscular dystrophy. While in the wilderness, Hoffmann has tried everything from yoga to urine therapy (yes, really) to treat the nasty disease afflicting his body.

Even he knows it’s a wild tale, but it doesn’t bother him. He just wants to set an example of health and wellness — even if it is a little unconventional.

“I’m trying to take a minute and look out from the outside defender’s perspective and, yeah, it’s, on paper it’s definitely interesting, it’s a crazy story,” he said. “I think I have been put in this motion for a reason and I just want to help people believe in themselves and get through really anything that they’re going through.”

Hofmann was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in 2017, and his life has never been the same. Golf has been secondary in the years since. He’s trekked the globe to treat the ailment, going as far as Nepal in search of some sort of healing. In 2020, he and his wife Chelsea settled in Costa Rica, opening a health and wellness center.

“It’s something that’s hard to talk about here because not a lot of people understand and it can be deemed as crazy, but I think that’s kind of what most people see me as anyway,” he said. “Some of the plant medicine has been truly amazing, mind blowing. And a lot of people call some of the things that I’ve embarked on as hallucinogenic, but the way I see them is so much different.”

But now the 32-year-old is back where he originally took his game to the next level — Hilton Head Island. As a high schooler, the New Jersey native attended the International Junior Golf Academy, honing his skills among some of the top junior talent in the world, eventually earning a scholarship to Oklahoma State.

“Playing this course is very euphoric for me,” he said. “So I really wanted to make it back to this event.”

This start is one of three Hoffmann has remaining on a major medical extension from the PGA Tour. And if he has any hopes of returning to pro golf full time, he’ll has to make the starts count. He needs 238 FedEx Cup points to retain his card. But, true to form, his play this week is the least of his worries. He’s just going with the flow.

“Some smiles,” he said of his expectations. “[And] some golf on a beautiful course. That’s really about it.”

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF.com, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and women’s golf.