Charles Barkley speaks some truth about golf and injuries
Charles Barkley loves to play golf, even if he’s the absolute worst at it. And credit the Chuckwagon for staying on the Golfwagon all these years, through the learning curve, the getting better, the hitch in his swing, the working desperately with Hank Haney to fix it and the acceptance that he is the golfer he is.
Golf’s a humbling sport, especially for someone as accomplished as Barkley. However, that doesn’t mean the game has stopped him from speaking (his version of) the truth about it.
“Golf is fun, until you hit somebody in the head,” said Barkley ahead of this week’s American Century Championship, the annual celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
Well, he’s not wrong, though most of us who play aren’t typically keeping the attention of thousands in a gallery as we hook and slice our way around the course.
“It ain’t like regular golf, because there are people everywhere,” Barkley said. “And like I say, most of the guys will tell you they’re pretty good until they hit somebody. And then they get really nervous, because nobody wants to hit anybody.”
Barkley, despite his reputation as a golfer preceding him, will have quite the cheering section. Some of them may have even laid a few bucks on him across town at the casinos, where he is a 6,000-to-1 long shot to win this event at Edgewood-Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline.
Barkley is joined by some 80 celebrities and athletes in the 54-hole event, including two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry, NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, singer Justin Timberlake and comedian Ray Romano, as well NFL Hall-of-Famers Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and Marcus Allen.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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