Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice is trying his hand as a professional golfer this week, playing a Nationwide Tour event at the TPC Stonebrae course.
His first day did not go well.
“I got killed out there today,” Rice wrote on his guest blog at PGATour.com. “Right from the first shot, I found trouble and was unable to regroup. But I am not surprised. I know how tough the game is. Shooting 83, that score is really up there. And it could have been worse.”
The first shot Rice refers to landed in knee-high grass about 20 yards off the fairway, leading to a double-bogey on his first hole -- one of four double-bogeys in the round.
Still, Rice says he’s serious about getting better at golf, and that he doesn’t see his pro golf debut as much different from his NFL debut.
“I remember how my first NFL starts were bumpy,” Rice wrote. “I was dropping footballs all over the place. This is a little bit like that: bumpy. And my putter is toast. I am going to melt it down. You won’t see it again.”