Ryan Howard attends the PGA Championship and wishes he ‘would have played golf’ during Phillies career
Former Phillies legend Howard, who was greeted by “MVP” chants from the crowd at his first-ever PGA Tour event, said there are "a lot of similarities" between golf and other competitive sports.
Ryan Howard walked into T-Mobile’s Club Magenta at the Aronimink Golf Club and was greeted by “MVP” chants from the crowd. The former Phillies first baseman attended the PGA Championship on Thursday.
“This is my first time at a PGA Tour event,” Howard said. “Which is pretty awesome. Long overdue. But this is amazing and then obviously having it in Philadelphia, where I was able to play and have some great runs with some great teams, and having the fans as we were driving over here, trying not to get people kicked out because they’re all yelling ‘Hey Ryan.’
“This is awesome for me. And I always love watching people in their element. Because, people have watched me do my thing. So, being out here and watching these guys do what they do best and make it look easy, it’s great. And we know it’s not easy.”
Howard played 13 seasons in Philadelphia. Throughout his career, he won a World Series with the Phillies, became a three-time All-Star, won National League Most Valuable Player honors, and was NL Rookie of the Year. But now that he’s retired, he’s taken up a new sport: golf.
“Trying to hit that two-foot putt is nerve wracking for me,” Howard said. “Like, you can give me a 95 mile per hour ball, I know what to do with that. But that two-footer, there’s too much going on upstairs.”
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Howard isn’t the only one taking up golf as a hobby.
Plenty of Philly athletes have started playing the sport — including Jalen Hurts and Brandon Graham. And according to Howard, there are a number of similarities when it comes to golf and other competitive sports.
“All sports teach us great life lessons,” Howard said. “How to persevere. And you have to put in the work in order to be great at what you do. I wish I would have played golf while I was playing baseball. I was always afraid it was going to affect my swing. But, now I’ve learned that it doesn’t.
“There’s a lot of similarities. But, there’s a lot of big differences as well. The things you can kind of pull together are the mental aspects of the game, the preparation that goes into it.”
The 108th PGA Championship returns to Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square for the first time in over six decades.
You can watch Marcus Hayes and Jeff Neiburg preview the tournament on Gameday Central from Aronimink, and be sure to check out the PGA Championship Range Show from 12-2 p.m daily, starting Wednesday.
Whether you're going, watching from home, or just curious about what all the fuss is about, we've got you covered with our PGA guide and stories on everything from Aronimink's history and design, to what the players have to say about returning to the Philly area. We even made a golf video game so you can play the course and learn its secrets.
Get it all with our full PGA Championship preview. And follow the latest news and action from the course, right here.
