Don’t let Chuck get hot! I can’t believe I’m typing that out loud. Charles Barkley had the benefit of working with Tiger Woods’ longtime swing coach Hank Haney, yet when he took his game onto the course in years past, he’d have this absurd, herky-jerky swing where he legitimately couldn’t get through the ball.
Chuck had some kind of mental block that wouldn’t allow him to transition from the backswing to the downswing. He claimed that he could strike the ball fine on the driving range, just not on the links. All the Bob Rotella books in the world couldn’t fix this man.
Now to be fair, in the ensuing years he’s gotten a lot better, but at a 2021 Champions Tour event in Alabama, the “massive improvement” showed Sir Charles hit one drive to an unclear destination, mash a punch shot from out of the woods, keep a bunker shot just on the green, and miss the green with his tee shot to a par 3.
Massive improvements from where he was, sure. I just wasn’t certain that he could actually score well, much less hit true quality iron shots on a consistent basis.
Well pardon me, Chuck. At the American Century Championship, where he routinely finishes in dead-last place, our beloved, slimmed-down Round Mound of Rebound is putting on a stripe show that frankly has me shook. Look at the action on this gem of a shot:
I’m bummed out that Chuck plans to retire at the end of the next NBA season amid the whole controversy of TNT potentially losing Inside the NBA. The bright side is, he’ll have even more time to work on his golf game. He shot a very respectable score of 12-over 84 in Friday’s first round, and went out in 5-over 41 on Saturday. Chuck can legitimately play.
You can catch today and tomorrow’s American Century Championship action on NBC and Peacock. Well worth tuning in for, with celebrities in the field such as Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Travis Kelce, Steph Curry, and plenty others. Check out the big-name contenders during today’s second-round action:
Track Chuck’s score here, and glimpse the leaderboard to see who all is teeing it up. Important disclaimer: The tournament is Stableford-style scoring, so worry not, the lead isn’t hovering near 40 over par.
Not to kick a man while he’s down, but I hope Jalen Rose has been practicing. The former NBA star and ESPN personality took over Chuck’s long-held mantle for “Worst Swing By An Ex-NBA Player” a couple years ago or so. No challengers as of yet from what I’ve seen. Enjoy the high comedy of Rose’s swing below.