Blue
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- Mar 19, 2019
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The more reps you get, the better you play. That was Peyton Manning’s philosophy throughout his NFL career.
But this theory has also apparently rang true for Manning's golf game.
Just ask Tiger Woods.
The two legends of their respective sports on Wednesday paired up for a second straight year at the Memorial Tournament Pro-Am event in Dublin, Ohio, where Woods left the 18th green impressed with the work put in by Manning on the course since they last teed it up.
“He’s gotten so much better,” Woods said, via USA TODAY. “When we first played, he was just kind of starting out in the game. But now that he’s retired he can play a lot more golf. That’s been pretty cool for me to be able to play with him throughout the years. To know what he’s gone through and see him get ready for the season and what he’s been able to accomplish after all those surgeries, to walk around greatness like this, it’s always fun.”
That sentiment was mutual for Manning. After all, Woods last month won the Masters to earn his first major championship since 2008, and his 15th major championship overall. Woods also accomplished that feat having fought his way back from three back operations and a fusion surgery.
“I think the most impressive thing is how he’s been able to adjust and be adaptive to playing in a new physical state,” Manning said. “And that’s what I did. To use a baseball analogy: I couldn’t throw the 100-mile-an-hour fastball anymore, but you can still work the outside edges of the plate and you can still strike a guy out that way. And he struck a lot of guys out down there at Augusta a few weeks ago and came home with the win. That to me is the most impressive thing, how adaptive he’s been.”
OK, enough of the mushy stuff. This is Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods we’re talking about, after all.
The two have now played together in at least four pro-am events over the years, and they remain friends off of the course, as well. So, not surprisingly, the two had a little bit of fun at each other’s expense on Wednesday.
“He just gave me crap the entire time, which is par for the course,” Woods said. “It’s what we do. We give each other a pretty good needle.”
“I hit some bad shots today — I didn’t hit anybody today; that was an improvement from last year,” Manning said with a smile. “I did birdie 18, I’m glad you saw that, so that’s all you really need to know. And I hit a good drive on 1. What happened between 1 and that (18), it’s really not important."