So, uh, Jerry Rice, any chance you might be second-guessing your foray into professional golf? Missing that shiny parquet from Dancing With The Stars?
Rice, 47, is taking a hook-snap hack at competing on the Nationwide Tour, the AA minor leagues, if you will, for guys attempting to qualify for the PGA Tour. By no means am I besmirching the reputation of the Nationwide Tour – there are some great golfers competing – Chad Campbell, Heath Slocum and one-time fan favorite Jason Gore (remember him at the 2005 U.S. Open? Great googly moogly) cut their teeth on the Nationwide.
Jerry Rice just might have just figured that out Thursday and Friday after he missed the cut at the Fresh Express Classic. Rice is likely realizing he may have bit off a little more than he could chew by naively believing he could compete with the big boys.
While I admire Rice’s passion and dedication to the sport of golf – despite his struggles, he’s obviously quite good at it – his showing over two previous days left something to be desired.
He opened with an 83 on Thursday, a terrible enough round to land him in last place, a spot where I imagine Rice is none too familiar. He mildly responded to his horrid first round with a 76 on Friday, but it was not enough.
At least he feels good about it, though.
“Shooting 76 today, I’m happy with that, because I had to fight my way back from yesterday,” said Rice, also the tournament host. “I wanted to play well, but the most important thing for me was for the tournament to be a success.”
“I am going to continue to work on my game,” Rice said. “I learned so much this week. The first day, I made rookie mistakes. Last night, I was so upset I couldn’t sleep. I woke up at 2 a.m. and was just staring at the ceiling. I had my clothes picked out, over on a chair and I couldn’t wait for the sun to rise.
“Today, I was able to take my time. I slowed down everything. My caddie, Andy (Miller), kept reminding me to just calm down. Yesterday, I went away from everything — my swing, a new putter. … That was stupid. Today, I went back to my Nike putter and my regular swing. I took my time. So it was a lot better.”
Good for him. While his debut performance was a disappointment, you have to give him credit that he’s not just laying around the house, resting on his laurels – which I doubt no one would argue with, considering Rice’s mind-blowing accomplishments in the NFL.
Yet, it is somewhat amusing that the confidence and automatic, inherent belief that he was better-prepared and more skilled than everyone else he was competing against – something that served him so well in the NFL – likely doomed him in this golf tournament. It’s not going to come as easy for Jerry Rice on the course as it did on the gridiron.
Boy, I know how that goes. Who would have thought after dominating B-Team football in seventh grade I would struggle so mightily with a golf club in my hand? It boggles the mind, I tell ya.
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Jerry Rice improves, but misses Nationwide cut [NBC Sports/AP]
