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John Smoltz spent 22 seasons in the MLB before he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, and while he doesn’t really have much left to prove at this point, he decided to pursue another passion in retirement and now has the chance to officially pivot to a career as a professional golfer.
There are plenty of professional athletes who didn’t make a name for themselves in the world of golf who are nonetheless able to hold their own on the course.
That includes John Smoltz, who made his Major League Baseball debut with the Atlanta Braves in 1988 and remained with the team for more than two decades before hanging up his cleats following brief stints with the Red Sox and Cardinals.
The man known as “Smoltzie” was an eight-time All-Star who won the Cy Young Award a year after he helped the Braves secure a World Series title in 1995, and he still holds a couple of the franchise records that helped him punch his ticket to Cooperstown.
As if that wasn’t enough, the former pitcher is a wildly talented golfer. He’s gotten the chance to roam the links with Tiger Woods on more than a few occasions over the years, and the fact that the legend says Smoltz (along with Tony Romo) is the most accomplished player hailing from another sport really tells you all you need to know.
Smoltz is a perennial contender at the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe each year and even earned the right to play in the U.S. Senior Open in 2018 (he claimed qualifying for the tournament was a better feeling than his first MLB win).
He’s also gotten the chance to play PGA Tour Champions events multiple times with the help of sponsor exemptions, but according to CNN, he’s now attempting to take matters into his own hands by earning the card that will allow him to join the senior circuit.
Smoltz is one of the 78 golfers who headed down to TPC Scottsdale this week after qualifying for the finals at Q School. He’s got a fairly tall task ahead of him, as Champions Tour invites will only be extended to the golfers who finish in the top five, but the fact that he’d made it as far as he has is a testament to his skills.