Who is the coolest golfer on tour?
Also, and related, what is cool?
I don’t know how this idea got into my mind, but it definitely came up watching Max Homa win his fourth PGA Tour event at the Wells Fargo. (Disclaimer: I didn’t watch any of it. But I saw and heard him talking about it afterwards.) Homa, for those who don’t know, is a 31-year old golfer who seems preternaturally good at just being a NICE and funny guy, who isn’t just churning out predetermined, shrink-wrapped corpo-jargon, but rather seems to be himself.
Homa has shown up on a season of No Laying Up’s Strapped series, playing his old local muni track in shorts and a Kobe Bryant t-shirt. He regularly engages on Twitter in a way that makes it clear he’s way, way better at it than you are.
In short, Max just seems like a very cool guy.
Let’s put it this way - when Bryson DeChambeau wins a tournament, his interview afterwards is a recitation of his sponsors. Homa was asked about the significance of winning on Mothers Day and the fact that his wife is pregnant, and he essentially made fun of the tropes that announcers level on to these types of things, saying, “Perspective was running rampant today.” Homa is cool, by almost any measure - even if he’s a Lakers and Dodgers fan.
DeChambeau, on the other hand, is almost comically NOT cool - though he wants to be. Someone who is reasonably cool doesn’t care what others think about him - DeChambeau essentially pays his “TikTok” crew to hang with him. Enough said.
Looking through the Official World Golf Ranking, it’s sort of shocking how few guys seem to qualify. Let’s dig in.
Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa are incredible golfers - and while Rahm is much more openly thoughtful and interesting than Scheffler and Morikawa (who are more private and quiet), I wouldn’t argue any of them is cool.
But you know who clearly, obviously, doesn’t care what others think about him? This guy:
That’s world #4 Cameron Smith, who knows how silly this looks (his girlfriend reportedly hates it) but has been wearing this ratty facial hair and mullet for sometime now. Enough that when I searched for pictures of him, I forgot he used to look like this:
Smith is pretty low-key and can be lethal on the course. I am sure he’s going to win The Masters in short order, and has earned his slot on the course. He also DGAF, which puts him on the list.
The next candidate on the list, one might think, is Viktor Hovland, who MUST not care what people think about him because he shows up like this to play competitive golf.
The link on his Instagram profile links to a 30-hour speed death metal playlist on Spotify. I mean, it’s quite possible that Hovland is, indeed, cool. But I’m worried about the pants.
After that, we see a lot of big names who don’t qualify (Justin Thomas is too thirsty, Jordan Spieth is just too awkward - and I love him for it, Dustin Johnson is cool and laid back but he’s a bit too laid back, and I can’t say I love him sharing pictures from Mar-a-Lago. He’s out. His former buddy Brooks Koepka wants to be cool and thinks he’s VERY cool, but he’s not - he’s a bit of a bully and a thirst bucket. As a person, Tony Finau seems VERY cool but the fact that he chokes whenever he’s in the hunt gives me pause.
I really want to put Shane Lowry on this list - I love husky golfers, he truly enjoys having a pint and seems like a really nice guy with a great game. But his whining about playing in the rain - as a guy who grew up playing in Ireland - did not look great. Whiners aren’t cool. You’re out, Lowry.
We get to Homa, then it’s Kevin Kisner who is too much of a red-ass and too big of a fan of Barstool Sports to make my list. With the acknowledgement that a lot of other golfers on the OWGR are not folks I have a true sense of their personality, we need to scroll down to 43 for Tommy Fleetwood, who like Finau doesn’t win (he’s never won a PGA Tour event) but has the best flow in the game. He’s also seemingly a world-class guy and just looks as if he might actually be the bass player for the Doobie Brothers:
Some of the next golfers on the OWGR are almost shockingly NOT cool - Keegan Bradley may wear Air Jordan golf shoes, but nope. Sergio Garcia and his temper tantrums and love of Saudi blood money has been well documented in this space. Marc Leishman, on the other hand, has that smooth easygoing vibe that makes me want to buy him a pint and hear some stories or talk sports. He’s in, most likely with Cam Smith riding shotgun.
There’s only one other guy in the top-100 worth mentioning, and I don’t know how cool of a human he is but props must be given to Maverick McNealy, a son of a billionaire who doesn’t have to grind on tour but does anyway. Being a pro golfer isn’t like working on a crab boat or anything but it does sound like it can be absolutely a beat-down, especially if you haven’t won and are scraping for eligibility. The fact that McNealy does this gives him major points in my book.
Scroll all the way down to 140 and you’ll find Rickie Fowler, whose world ranking has taken a tumble. And I have to admit, Rickie is cool - not just for the kids who love him, but honestly everyone seems to. He seems to have a good marriage going and a new kid, and he’s maximized his earnings while not coming across as a complete jagoff. Is he as good of a golfer as he should be? Probably not. But he’s still pretty cool.
Finally, while I don’t think there’s really a way to call Joel Dahmen cool, per se, he’s close - and his buddy Harry Higgs absolutely does qualify. Higgs needs to start winning, but he’s already kind of won, hasn’t he?
Guys, that’s not a long list. Is it possible that people like Hennie Du Plessis, Thriston Lawrence, Adrian Meronk and Kazuki Higa (and yes, those are all real golfers in the top-150 ranked golfers worldwide) are truly cool dudes? It sure is. But I don’t know a thing about them, so I can’t make that leap.
After all of this, I tend to think Homa retains the “coolest” title but all of the candidates here can make the claim.
Golf isn’t necessarily a sport that lends itself to “cool” folks, but they’re out there. One wonders if the PGA Tour has any sense of how to market them and try and actually grow the game.
Pre-emptive strike that K.H. Lee, who won this past weekend, should get a notice SOLELY for saying his first goal is to be the best golfer on tour, and his second goal is to be the sexiest. That alone gets him into the conversation.