Mardy Fish rose as high as No. 7 in the world during his career as a professional tennis player. He’s pretty darn good at golf too. In fact, no less than Jack Nicklaus ranks him No. 1 among non-professionals golfers he’s played with and served up this high praise.
“We played nine holes and he drove the ball on every single hole in the middle of the fairway, further than I have seen anybody hit it who is not a professional,” Nicklaus said. “He shot 31 for nine holes. I said, ‘Mardy, what are you doing? You have got a talent and you are young enough to take advantage of it. You need to go play golf.’ ”
In 2019, Nicklaus went so far as to recommend to 3M Open tournament director Hollis Cavner that Fish be offered a sponsor’s exemption into the PGA Tour event, but that year Cavner instead chose eventual tournament winner Matthew Wolff and runner-up Collin Morikawa, who had both recently turned pro.
