Why this former NFL star won’t play money games with Larry Fitzgerald

Money games with friends are commonplace at every golf course in the country. From the roughest munis to the most pristine country clubs, if you go out to the course, you’ll be sure to find a few groups with stakes on the line.

Skill levels might vary, but with the handicap system, any game can be competitive. You’ve just got to make sure the strokes are fair.

That’s where the animosity comes in. When you’re giving strokes, you always want to negotiate for less. And when you’re getting them, you always angle for a couple more.

Former golf-obsessed NFL stars Patrick Peterson and Larry Fitzgerald know this routine well. When the two were teammates on the Arizona Cardinals during the 2010s, they would play frequently together on their off days. the only catch? Fitzgerald always insisted Peterson give him strokes.

“I’m like, ‘Larry, I’m better than you, but I’m not that good to be giving you strokes,'” Peterson said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar. “Why am I giving you strokes?”

Peterson explained that as he continued to get the better of Fitzgerald, the topic of strokes continued to come up. Finally, after some negotiating, they came to an agreement.

“We end up playing one time, I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll give you your strokes on the front. If you win, [you’ve] got to play head up on the back,'” he said. “We end up playing and I end up beating him. From that time on, we’ve never had a money-exchanging type of golf match.”

Peterson had just one thing to say to Fitzgerald after that: “Get freaking better.”

Check out the full episode of Subpar below.