Celebrity Golfers
Did Spider-Man almost steal a Ryder Cup captain's pick with this driver off the deck?
With just three captain's picks, European Ryder Cup team captain Padraig Harrington will have some very difficult decisions to make following this week's BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour. There are also still a number of players who can play their way on to the team with a big week at Wentworth, further muddying the waters.
As if his job wasn't hard enough, one player almost stole a spot during the Tuesday Pro-Am in England. How is that possible, you ask? Well, said player made a handshake deal with Harrington that if he hit driver off the deck on to the green from 260 yards away on the 18th hole, he'd be on the team. Where the story really gets crazy is that the player is Spider-Man. Wait, what?
That's right. Tom Holland, star of upcoming superhero movie "Spider-Man: No Way Home," played alongside Harrington in the Pro-Am on Tuesday. In the 18th fairway, Holland insisted he could hit driver off the deck on to the green from 260 yards away, a shot with a very high degree of difficulty for a tour pro, let alone an actor. As he prepared to hit the shot, Harrington jokingly asked "What's your motivation here?" Holland responded by saying he wants to make the Ryder Cup team, and the two shook on it. Then Holland damn near hit the green. Check out the full video:
Who knew Spidey had such a silky swing? If you watched to the end, you saw that he actually ended up in the greenside bunker. That's a ridiculously good shot, and one that takes serious stones to attempt in the first place. It also takes serious stones from the gallery to stand where they were standing up the right side of the fairway. Drivers off the deck are like playing Russian Roulette.
But Holland pulled it off (twice!) with relative ease. The British actor plays off a 5.4 handicap, so it's not like he's a bad player. Still, incredible shot, one that definitely had Padraig sweating as it made its way toward the green.