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Did a new backyard golf green turn Patrick Mahomes' season around? Maybe? (OK, probably not)
Naturally, we here at Golf Digest love to hear stories about how the game helped people in other sports win championships. There was Steve Kerr's promise to get Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala an Augusta National tee time that help spurred the Golden State Warriors dynasty in 2015. And a team-bonding trip to Pebble Beach that helped end the Chicago Cubs' World Series drought in 2016. It turns out that golf also played a pivotal role in the Kansas City Chiefs winning their first Super Bowl in half a century. OK, so maybe "pivotal" is juuuuuust a bit of a stretch.
But on the very day that Patrick Mahomes suffered a knee injury in a Week 7 game against the Denver Broncos that put the reigning NFL MVP's season in jeopardy, the finishing touches were being put on his very own backyard green at his Kansas City home. Coincidence? Yes, this is definitely a total coincidence. HOWEVAH, Mahomes has been virtually unstoppable since the green's installment. Is it possible the new green lifted his spirits during his forced time off enough to expedite his return? Anything is possible, right?
Regardless of the exact reason, Mahomes wound up only missing two games with a dislocated knee, returned to throw for more than 400 yards in his first game back, and the rest is history as he went on to win Super Bowl MVP. Don't you just love a happy ending? And now when Mahomes isn't tossing jaw-dropping deep balls, he's likely working on his short game here:
"The experience was beyond special," says Michael Lehrer, the founder of Home Green Advantage, who installed the green. "Everybody at his house, especially his girlfriend, Brittany, were the most helpful, down-to-earth clients I've had. Now it's time for Patrick to chip away at that handicap!"
Considering Mahomes' athletic ability—did you see the beer he snagged one-handed during the Chiefs parade?—that shouldn't take long at all.