Former professional tennis player Mardy Fish is set to make his debut on the PGA Tour on Thursday. The American reached as high as #7 in the world in singles, and collected six titles along the way. He had a brilliant career, where he also notched up famous wins over Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and many more top players. Now, he’s set to make his first professional golf appearance.
Mardy Fish to Debut on the PGA Tour
Since Fish’s retirement from tennis in 2015, he’s been playing huge amounts of golf. This has featured alongside coaching the Davis Cup team, as well as being incredibly brave and outspoken about his struggles with mental health.
Clearly, his golfing practice has been greatly rewarded. He has been offered a sponsor exemption at the 3M Open–a PGA tournament which features some of the most high profile golfing stars in the world. This year’s lineup includes players such as Tony Finau, Hideki Matsuyama, Sung-Jae Im, and more.
Fish’s inclusion in this tournament is not only an exceptional achievement but also very historic. As of Thursday, he will become the first ever person recorded to have played both on the ATP Tour and the PGA Tour.
Minnesota native and former professional tennis player @MardyFish, winner of six ATP Tour titles and the silver medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games, will compete at the @3MOpen this week on a sponsor exemption.#GolfThatMatters I #3MOpen pic.twitter.com/KVmGgS2LaN
— 3M Open (@3MOpen) July 19, 2022
It’s certainly not uncommon for tennis players to have a big passion for golf. Just recently, high profile players such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Casper Ruud, and Carlos Alcaraz have all been hitting up various golf courses. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to see some current tennis players attempt the same feat as Mardy Fish once they retire. That said, it’s clearly taken the American a lot of work to get here.
Fish is clearly not just being handed this either–he’s excellent at the sport. In 2020 he won the American Century Championship (AKA the celebrity golf tournament) with a performance that showed how high a level he’s reached since he started playing. At 40 years of age, it looks like Mardy Fish will be playing professional golf on the regular if he keeps up the great work.
The start of Fish’s professional golfing career gets underway on Thursday at 09:00 Eastern/14:00 GMT.
Main Photo:
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