In a recent video from Grant Horvat’s popular golf channel featuring NFL star Saquon Barkley, the duo set out to “break 60” at Llanerch Country Club. The Super Bowl winner revealed that he plays off a 14 handicap.
Midway through the first hole, Horvat dropped a remarkable nugget.
“I remember when Michael Jordan got done with his career, he said he was going to try and… go on the Champions Tour," Horvat revealed about the six-time NBA champion.
"He's like a really good golfer. Like, really solid. But the level between, like, being a scratch golfer and playing the Champions Tour is crazy big. Big difference.”
This insight adds weight to the folklore surrounding Jordan’s post-basketball golf exploits. Although Jordan never officially competed on the Champions Tour, his handicap, reportedly around 6, suggests a finely-tuned game with room to improve.
Michael Jordan
NBA great Michael Jordan is honored for being selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
© Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
Experts say even a player of Jordan’s caliber would struggle to qualify, or need a sponsor’s exemption, to make the cut.
PGA champion Xander Schauffele admitted he faced the man himself on the green and lost. “I did my best version of trash talk … then he beat me straight up,” Schauffele confessed, calling the defeat “embarrassing”.
That story underscores Horvat’s claim that being really good isn’t the same as playing at professional senior circuit levels.
Horvat and Barkley also lament the common myth of “buying your swing,” with Barkley quipping, “I thought I’d just buy my way to playing good golf… and it’s not working”. A reminder that gear doesn’t trump grit.
The video concluded with Horvat successfully breaking 60 at the course with an eagle in his final putt, carding 59 through 18.