Penny Hardaway stared intently, finding out Collin Morikawa from the tee field on No. 18 at TPC Southwind in Memphis Wednesday.
Memphis basketball’s head coach – and a legendary NBA determine – was the pupil this time.
“I by no means requested him one golf query till we received to No. 18,” stated Hardaway, who was a part of the group taking part in with Morikawa through the pre-FedEx St. Jude Championship pro-am. “I used to be saying to him, ‘Out of respect, I’ve to ask you some questions concerning the recreation.’ Since you don’t play with a legend like that and an incredible participant and never ask him any questions.
“So, he gave me some info and I hit an incredible drive and an incredible second shot onto the inexperienced.”
So, what precisely did Morikawa coach Hardaway up on and what was his analysis of Hardaway, the golfer?
“He is actually good. He is really actually, actually good,” Morikawa stated. “I feel he had a handicap of two at the moment. He made some legit − I feel he made two precise birdies, like regular birdies with out his handicap. He was striping it.
“He is such a tall man, and that is clearly how basketball gamers are, and he is had, I feel, six knee surgical procedures, so he requested me on 18 one thing he may work on nearly rotation and getting it across the nook just a little bit higher. He hit some balls out to the suitable. Look, it was spectacular. I did not know what to anticipate, and typically you see a 2 handicap they usually’re not a 2, however I really consider him. He is an incredible participant, and only a nice man to hang around with for 9 holes at the moment.”
Hardaway stated Morikawa is not the one high-level athlete’s mind he is ever picked.
“It’s the identical with how I really feel once I’m round legends of the sport of basketball or no matter their sport is,” Hardaway stated. “Simply to ask them, ‘What makes you nice?’ ‘What do you concentrate on on the market?’ All that goes into me teaching as nicely. You retain feeding for info, it kinda motivates your guys.”
Other than the free lesson from the two-time main winner, Hardaway relishes the alternatives he will get to be on the golf course – particularly when it entails two of the most important pillars of the Memphis neighborhood in St. Jude Kids’s Analysis Hospital and FedEx.
Hardaway describes golf as his “peace,” regardless that he downplays his ability stage, describing it as “not even shut” to these of the professionals. He stated he by no means envisioned himself taking on the game whereas he was blistering the competitors on the hardwood as a teen at Treadwell or a younger grownup with the Tigers.
“Not as soon as,” he stated. “In my neighborhood, it was all about basketball, soccer and baseball. By no means about golf. Regardless that we had Chickasaw Nation Membership in our neighborhood, we by no means even considered it.”
Hardaway will get an opportunity to play one other spherical at Spring Creek Nation Membership in Collierville on Thursday on the Danny Thomas Superstar-Am. He stated he may also be again at TPC Southwind as a spectator for the FedEx St. Jude Championship all through the weekend.
Industrial Enchantment sports activities author Josh Crawford contributed to this report Attain sports activities author Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or comply with him @munzly on X, the social media app previously often called Twitter.
This text initially appeared on Golfweek: Memphis basketball legend Penny Hardaway could not chorus from asking Collin Morikawa for golf recommendation
