ick Rhoden, the former major-league baseball pitcher and all-time leading money-winner on the Celebrity Players Tour, is No. 1 in the magazine’s ranking with a plus-2.5 Handicap Index. (A Handicap Index is a measure of a player’s ability. The lower the Handicap Index, the better the player).
Rhoden, 53, is now a professional golfer trying to make his mark on the Champions Tour. “After 10 years I’d seen and been through everything in baseball,” he told Golf Digest. “Every course in America has scratch players, but that doesn’t mean they can make a dime playing professional golf.”
Rounding out the Top 10 are: No. 2 Ray Sheppard, former Detroit Red Wing (plus-2.5); No. 3 Sterling Sharpe, ex-Green Bay Packer (plus-2.4); No. 4 Dan Quinn, Ex-NHLer (plus-2.1); No. 5 Craig Hentrich, Tennessee Titans punter (plus-2.0); T-6 Ryan Longwell, Vikings kicker; T-6 Andy Van Slyke, former Gold Glove outfielder; T-8 Chris Chandler, ex-Falcons quarterback (plus-1.5); T-8 Trent Dilfer, former Ravens quarterback (plus-1.5) and T-8 Billy Joe Tolliver, ex-NFL quarterback.
Others in the diverse crowd of Golf Digest’s athlete-golfers are: John Elway (T-21); Pete Sampras (T-21); Michael Jordan (T-30); surfing great Kelly Slater (No. 42); Larry Bird (No. 60); Ivan Lendl (T-81); Oscar De La Hoya (T-158); skier Bode Miller (T-158); Martina Navratilova (T-158); Barry Bonds (T-172); Hank Aaron (T-209); and Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip (No. 215).
In most cases, the handicaps were gleaned from the U.S. Golf Association’s Golf Handicap and Information Network. Golf Digest also relied on information from state associations, the athletes themselves, professionals at their clubs and friends who have played with them.
Handicaps appearing without decimal points are unofficial estimates.
Of the 220 athletes on the ranking, 159 come from football, baseball and the NHL. Football has the most with 70, followed by baseball (58), hockey (31), and basketball (25).
Six women made the list, led by tennis great Gigi Fernandez (T-36) with a 1.6 handicap. The other five are: softballer Lisa Fernandez (T-121); WNBA player Lindsay Whalen (T-194); soccer star Brandi Chastain (T-209); former speed skater and Olympic gold medalist Bonnie Blair (No. 214); and former basketball standout Rebecca Lobo (219).
