Golf’s Biggest Badasses
There are some people in the golfin’ world (both real and fictional) that possess a certain extra sumthin’ that us mere mortals can only stand in awe of. It’s somethin’ I like to call… bein’ a badass. Looks like Golf Digest thinks so too; with that in mind, let’s take a gander at their list of golf’s biggest BAMFs (plus a few of this caveman’s own personal picks for baddassery in the golfin’ world).
5. Happy Gilmore
Happy Gilmore (played by Adam Sandler) is a converted hockey player with a slap shot swing, once went toe-to-toe with both Bob Barker and an alligator, and refuses to wear anything argyle… ever (“If I saw myself in clothes like that, I’d have to kick my own ass”). Plus, he does all of it for his dear ol’ mom – if that ain’t bein’ a badass, I dunno what is.
4. John Daly
John Daly introduced “Grip It and Rip It” to sportin’ lexicon. Plus, he pays no mind to golf’s fitness push and appears to subsist exclusively on cigarettes and Diet Coke. Oh yeah, and he also has run afoul of the tour for countless violations (including hittin’ a ball off a beer can in a pro-am).
3. Bubba Watson
Bubba Watson never bothered with any expensive lessons, he’s man enough to weep openly and swing a pink driver, and he ripped tour veteran Steve Elkington a new one for movin’ around too much when they were paired together in 2008.
2. Babe Zaharias
Babe Zaharias was a first-generation American woman born in 1911 to Norwegian immigrants in southeastern Texas. A natural born athlete, Babe was an All-American basketball player and won two gold medals and one silver medal for track and field in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics; yet it was in golf that Babe really excelled! Not only was she the first American to win the British Ladies Amateur, but in 1945 she made the cut in every PGA Tour event she entered. To this day she is the only woman in history to make the cut in a regular PGA Tour event. If she ain’t a badass, I dunno who is.
1. Al Czervik
It’s hard to list all the reasons why Al Czervik (played by Rodney Dangerfield) is everyone’s favorite golfin’ badass. Between the spring-loaded keg-filled jukebox of a golf bag, the gutsy betting on the course, and the total disregard for any kind of golfing etiquette, only one thing’s for sure – this guy’s a BAMF.
Got a golfer you think belongs on this list? Leave yer picks in the comment section!