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Sports Watch
STEVE Bartkowski, former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, once told me that he played football to support his golf habit. He didn't make as much money as today's NFL players. But today's stars are just as smitten with the game of golf as Bartkowski was -- and still is. NFL players can’t
wait to scramble
onto coursesAfter morning practices this week many of the Pro Bowlers rushed off to the golf courses.
Marshall Faulk, star running back of the Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams, made a golf date with Marcus Allen to play Koolau as their golf carts passed each other at Ko Olina the other day.
"You've got to play Koolau," the former Kansas City and Oakland running back told Faulk. "They made it friendlier. I only lost three balls."
"How you hitting 'em?" Faulk then asked Oakland Raider Hall of Famer Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, as he headed to the next nine.
"Lousy. Haven't touched the clubs in couple of months," Upshaw replied.
That's pretty much what all of the NFL players said about their game after the long, five-month season.
"You can't play golf during the season," said Tampa Bay safety John Lynch, who says his handicap is anywhere from 15 to 20. "You have just one day off during the season, Tuesday, and I'm too sore to play."
"I'm a 15 right now," said Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown, who sponsors three or four benefit golf tournaments during the off-season.
"I used to play during the season, you can in L.A., but I lost all of my golfing buddies. They either got married or have kids. And they traded Chester McGlockton to Kansas City. I also have a 17-month-old daughter who wants me to spend time with her."
SAFETY Rod Woodson of the Baltimore Ravens, a six-time Pro Bowl cornerback with the Pittsburgh Steelers, loves the game even though he says he plays "military golf," you know, "left-right-left."
"We all think we can play golf," said Woodson, who wouldn't divulge his handicap.
Neither would Faulk.
"I never put it out in public," he said. "Too many sandbaggers. Just say I'm a respectable golfer."
"You don't want to know," added Mike Strahan, New York Giants' linebacker, when asked.
Veteran NFL quarterback Warren Moon did the commentary for the made-for-TV Ace Hardware NFL Charities Golf Shoot-Out, which raised $50,000 for the Kapiolani Medical Center. Moon says he's a 16.
HE thinks that quarterbacks are among the best golfers in the NFL. "We analyze the game more."
"We're not only better, we're bigger, faster and smarter," kidded San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young, who missed most of the season because of a concussion.
But Carolina Panthers tight end Wesley Walls got in a dig at Young, who sank a putt in the shoot-out after Walls' three-man team missed theirs:
"Well, yeah. You've been playing since September."
The best part of golf, though, according to Faulk, is that it's a great fund-raising vehicle.
In 1994 Faulk created a foundation that included a dinner auction called the "Marshall Plan." But after taking up golf when he was drafted by the Colts, Faulk started a celebrity golf shoot-out for charities in Indianapolis.
This year, though, his tournament will be in St. Louis. Where else?