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It feels like most guys who’ve made a name for themself on the PGA Tour have at least one story about what it’s like to golf with Michael Jordan, but it’s hard to top Justin Thomas’ tale about getting to play alongside the NBA icon when he was still a teenager.
Michael Jordan is obviously known for being one of the most legendary players in basketball history, but he’s also at the center of a number of equally legendary tales concerning his exploits on the golf course—a domain where he’s known for harnessing the competitive nature that made him a dominant force on the basketball court while wagering laughable amounts of money over the course of a round.
It’s safe to assume Justin Thomas has shared the course with Jordan on more than a few occasions when you consider he’s a member at the wildly exclusive Grove XXIII (the private course His Airness built in Florida), but he was just a teenager when he got his first taste of what it’s like to roam the links with M.J.
The PGA Tour veteran (who was only 16 years old when he competed in his first tournament on that circuit) got the chance to reflect on his younger years while chatting with Stephen Colbert on Monday during a conversation where he recalled the time Jordan informed him he was going to join him during a round at Harmony Landing Country Club (the course outside of Louisville where Thomas’ father served as the head pro).
Here’s what he had to say about what transpired when he was 15 years old:
“He could always come to the Kentucky Derby…He would come out and play my dad’s course and I would be lucky enough to be out there when he was playing…
The first couple of years I’d help him out, and the last year they came out, he said, ‘Little man, go get your clubs. You’re gonna play the last seven holes with us.’ He knew that I played golf, but he didn’t know that I was decent, and nobody else had any idea…
I made four birdies in seven holes and helped pay for my first car. I won, I think, probably three or four grand.”
Must be nice.