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Now We Golf—When they are off the course, pro golfers still love to compete

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Matt Kuchar battles at ping pong. Phil Mickelson practices martial arts. Adam Hadwin likes to take batting practice. When it comes to their time away from the golf course, the PGA Tour’s best players have a lot of other active interests.

Brooks Koepka kills it in the gym. In fact, the multiple major winner might like spending time in the gym more than he does on the range, which is indicated by stories of the buff blaster benching 225 before he hits the course. He’s not alone—Tiger Woods used to work out with Navy Seals, and Ricky Fowler likes his motocross.

The point is that while the PGA Tour’s best spend a lot of time on the course, many are athletes with other interests away from the practice tee. Most notably, Gary Woodland, who just won his first major championship at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, played Division II college basketball before switching to golf full-time.

Here’s a look at some of the other athletic pursuits of the PGA Tour’s best:

Sergio Garcia

The Masters winner is a huge football fan. Nope, not NFL, but soccer. In fact, Garcia, from Spain, even boot on his cleats for his hometown team, the CF Borriol, nine years ago.

Brooke Henderson

Like a true Canadian, Brooke Henderson was once as comfortable between the pipes as she is on a goal course. Just like her dad Dave, Brooke was a hockey goalie, giving her a competitive sport to play in the winter.

Adam Hadwin

The Canadian is a huge baseball fan—and a couple of years ago offered golf lessons to anyone on the Toronto Blue Jays if he could take batting practice during spring training. The Jays took him up on it, and not long after, Hadwin was partnered with then Blue Jays’ MVP third baseman Josh Donaldson, an avid player, at a pro-am.

Dustin Johnson

At 6-foot-4, Johnson is well known for his athletic abilities, including dunking a basketball. Johnson’s grandfather was a well-known baller, and, of course, Johnson’s fiancé is the daughter of The Great One, Wayne Gretzky.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Adam Scott

Australia and surf culture go hand-in-hand, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the buff Aussie golfer loves to hit the waves. But he isn’t going to do something beyond his abilities as a good amateur surfer. “I know my ability in surfing,” Scott told Golf.com. “At some point you’ve got to take off on something, but I don’t charge big waves. I’m less of an adrenaline junkie than I once was. Surfing had that element with me for a while, but it’s less and less now. I’m not going out there to scare myself.”

Phil Mickelson

Now that he’s active on social media, we know about Phil’s love for keeping his calves in shape. But he’s also been active with martial arts for several years, working at both karate and kung fu. “I could probably kick your butt,” Phil told golf analyst Johnny Miller in 2004. “I know karate and kung fu. I’m stronger than you.”

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One thought on “Now We Golf—When they are off the course, pro golfers still love to compete”

  1. Let’s get a few more women in this: surely there is more than Brooke either in the gym or doing sports.

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