Golf is a favored pastime for professional athletes in just about every sport, and the NHL is no exception. Wayne Gretzky is among the most visible and well-known hockey players on the celeb pro-am circuit (of course, having Dustin Johnson as your son-in-law-to-be doesn’t hurt), but which other players excel both on the rink and on the links?
Nine-time NHL All Star Jeremy Roenick appeared on this week’s SubPar podcast, and in addition to going deep on his hockey career and golf game, he also revealed his top hockey-player-as-golfer picks to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz — as well as the details on a recent 18th-hole showdown with one of the league’s young guns.
“I think Brad Hall is the best,” Roenick begins. “I’d put myself at second. Grant Fuhr is a really good golfer. Mario Lemieux, Pierre Larouche, who is a little bit older now, but he’s a phenomenal golfer. Ray Whitney is a good golfer.”
At the mention of Whitney, Stoltz and Knost perk up.
“Whitney’s a wizard!” exclaims Stoltz.
“He caddied for me at the Phoenix Open this year,” Knost adds.
“Sneakiest scratch around,” replies Stoltz.
“Actually, Whits is probably better than me,” concedes Roenick, who boasts an impressive handicap index of plus 1. “I’ll put Whits at second. That guy can move a ball with the best of them.”
“I’ll tell you a young kid that’s good,” says Knost. “That young kid from the [Arizona] Coyotes, Clayton Keller.”
“Clayton’s got a beautiful swing, doesn’t he?” Roenick agrees. “He’s just fluid. That’s guy’s got a lackadaisical, beautiful, right-down-the-line swing. Nothing seems to bother him.”
As it turns out, Roenick has some playing history with Keller.
“I actually took him on up at We-Ko-Pa earlier this year,” Roenick says. “We went right down to the 18th hole, and I got him on the 18th hole. He gave me everything that I could handle.”
“He’s got that new big contract, take all of it!” Knost joked in reply.
You can check out the full episode of Subpar below.
