As any NBA fan can tell you, Charles Barkley isn’t often left speechless. Tom Brady didn’t just leave Barkley speechless, he left most of the viewing audience speechless too on No. 7 at Medalist Golf Club.
Brady had a no-good, very bad start to his afternoon. He shanked drives, he chunked chips, he crushed putts past the hole. For the first two hours of the afternoon, the greatest quarterback who ever lived played like he hadn’t picked up a club in months. Things got so bad, Brooks Koepka tweeted out that he’d donate $100,000 toward Covid-19 relief if Brady made a par or better on the front nine.
Then, Brady reached the par-5 7th hole. After three pedestrian shots, TB12 stood over a 130-yard approach from the fairway. Charles Barkley, having already bet Brady $50,000 that he wouldn’t hit the green on the par-3 4th hole, decided to grill the GOAT.
“How many shots to you want,” Barkley chided. “Aw, come on, I’m going to give you some shots man, I want some of you.”
Evidently, a little motivation was all Brady needed to get his game in gear.
“Don’t worry, it aint over yet,” he said, walking up to his shot.
“I think you just made him mad, Chuck,” Brian Anderson added.
“No, he can take a joke,” Barkley shot back.
A second later, Brady smoked his approach right at the pin. His ball arced high in the air, plopped down on the green, and spun back on a string right into the center of the cup. The broadcast (and social media) exploded.
“Take a little bit of that medicine,” Brady hollered at Barkley.
Then, for the first time all afternoon, he stepped into the limelight.
“I haven’t hit a good shot in eight holes, so I’d like to speak for a little bit,” he said. “Mom and Dad, I love you very much, my kids, I love you. When the going gets tough keep going boys.”
As Brady walked up to retrieve his ball from the hole, he had only one person on his mind: Brooks Koepka.
“Brooks owes me a little money,” he said.
