What Are They Up To This Summer? (Part Two)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about what the Winnipeg Jets players actually do during the summer. In this case it was about Byfuglien and Myers joining Andrew Ladd’s fishing tournament and catching a few absolute monsters with all proceeds going to charity.

This was supposed to be the only post in the series… until… Mark Scheifele went out and played in a Pro-Am golf tournament. Like most winter sports players, Scheifele has a love for golf. So when Wheeler was unable to go to The Players Cup which was held this past weekend, Scheifele jumped at the chance to make an appearance as a substitute.

The Players Cup is a tournament held every year for aspiring golfers as part of the Mackenzie Tour. It features local talent as well as professionals who are trying to improve their ranking with hopes of eventually making it onto the PGA Tour. While Scheifele is not planning on retiring from hockey anytime soon, he was allowed entry into the tournament with a sponsor’s exemption.

Knowing Scheifele and his competitive behaviour, he wasn’t happy with just competing, he wanted to actually succeed and do well. Before the tournament began his goal was to make the cut after the second round and be able to play with the top half of the field on the weekend.

That plan didn’t quite go as expected as Scheifele got off to a rough start with a double-bogey on the first hole. This might not have been a surprise with all of the nerves leading up to the tournament.

Scheifele rebounded after the poor start by rattling off two straight pars before running into a four hole stretch where he was plus six. The first round wasn’t all bad as Scheifele hit a beautiful tee shot on a par three and knocked down the ensuing ten foot putt for birdie. Scheifele’s dream of making the cut might have been slightly overstated as the results after round one weren’t very promising.

Yes, you read that right, Scheifele finished 24 shots off the lead after 18 holes of golf. Not only was Scheifele 24 shots back of first, but he was last among all competitors and the next closest player was ten shots better. After the first round, Scheifele acknowledged just how great of athletes these golfers were and how he admired their consistency and strength.

After round one, Scheifele settled down and had a decent second round. He finished plus 14 instead of plus 15 and also recorded birdies on two different holes.

The best news out of the entire weekend is that Scheifele has no hope of actually making it on tour. This means he will happily return to Bell MTS Place next month to his natural spot at centre ice. There is no need to worry for those who saw Scheifele competing against professionals and not knowing it was because of a sponsorship birth in the tournament.

So the question remains, what do the Jets do in the summer? It seems this can be answered in a multitude of ways. While some players go fishing, others try their luck against professional golfers.