Sunday, October 25, 2009

How do NHL players fair on the golf course amongst other athletes?

I know, I know. The last thing hockey fans want to see in October is an article about golf, but the sport is pretty much played all over the world year-round these days.

This month, Golf Digest released it’s list of top 150 athlete-golfers for 2009.

The magazine took a sampling from several sports, including the big four (NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL), to come up with their list.

The complete list can be found here.

The Top Five Overall

Rank Name Sport Handicap
1 Tony Romo NFL + 3.3
2 Craig Hentrick NFL + 2.8
3 Mark McGwire MLB + 2.2
4 Mike Schmidt MLB + 1.1
5 Jerry Rice NFL + 0.7

Sixteen present and former NHL players made the list of 150, and are shown below.

1980 Team USA captain Mike Eruzione is also included.

Rank Name Handicap
T-6 Brett Hull 0.0
11 Marc Savard 0.6
T-12 Jamie Langenbrunner 0.8
T-12 John-Michael Liles 0.8
16 Mario Lemieux 1.1
17 Mike Modano 1.3
26 Joe Sakic 2.3
44 Brenden Morrow 3.5
T-45 Mike Cammalleri 3.6
47 Cam Neely 3.7
T-50 Daniel Alfredsson 4
T-50 Alex Kovalev 4
65 Mike Eruzione 5.6
66 Bobby Orr 5.8
T-91 Mike Richards 9
105 Wayne Gretzky 10.6
T-125 Sidney Crosby 15
Handicap Indexes are from August and were determined from the USGA's Golf Handicap and Information Network, state associations, the athletes, PR directors, friends and playing partners. Handicaps without decimal points are unofficial estimates.

Former MLB pitcher Rick Rhoden was left off this year’s list as he is now considered a senior pro. Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr was not listed as he is going for his pro certification.

What really makes the list of NHL Players really interesting though, no Toronto Maple Leafs. You would think…

Notes on some of the Players:

Brett Hull was featured in Golf Digest’s “My Game” series for October 2009. He has won several tournaments including the Tillinghast Cup at Baltusrol in 2003 and the celebrity portion of the 2008 Wayne Gretzky Classic.

Marc Savard missed qualifying for 2008 Canadian Open by one stroke.

John-Michael Liles lettered in golf in high school.

Wayne Gretzky had a recent “My Game” article in Golf Digest and hosts an annual pro-celebrity golf tournament in Collingwood, Ontario. My coverage of the 2009 edition can be found here.

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