Out on the McKenzie Arena court, her husband Josh had just buried a long 3-pointer in much the same way he so often did at Byne Christian School in Albany, Ga.
But as Tina Broadaway nervously sat in the McKenzie stands Tuesday night, her mind wasn’t only on how much fun her husband was having playing a pickup basketball game with other Nationwide Tour golfers.
“I told him, ‘Please don’t get hurt,'” said Tina, who also was trying to keep tabs on sons Alex (5) and Sam (3). “You’ve got to play golf on Thursday.”
Yet she also quickly added, “They’re like a bunch of kids out there. They’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. I think Josh thinks he missed his calling.”
What they mostly missed was shots. Lots of shots. Loosely divided up into East Coast and West Coast rosters – “Why should a guy from Kansas (Gary Woodland), especially a guy who can hit every shot he takes, play for the West?” asked East member Broadaway – the two teams combined to miss the first seven layups they attempted.
Let’s hope that when the Chattanooga Classic gets under way Thursday at Black Creek Club, they’re much better at swishing little white dimpled balls into cups buried in the ground than swishing much larger pumpkin-colored balls through rims hung 10 feet in the air.
“Hey, I played soccer and golf in high school,” said Peter Tomasulo, a 28-year-old California native and University of California grad who is 13th on the Nationwide money list. “But this is so cool. We never get a chance to do something like this in a gym this big.”
They first were invited to do this because veteran tour pro Ken Duke and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach John Shulman have become close friends over the years.
Duke began talking up the pickup game months ago. Shulman agreed to let the golfers wear official UTC jerseys and keep score on the McKenzie scoreboard.
But then Duke tied for eighth in last week’s PGA stop in Jackson, Miss., which earned him a spot at this week’s PGA tourney in Sea Island, Ga., and ended his hoops dream before it began.
Nevertheless, Shulman kept his word to host the contest with one requirement: “Nobody can get hurt,” said the coach.
Woodland hurt the East the most once the game began. A Kansas native who played basketball for Washburn University during the 2002-03 season, the 26-year-old later transferred to Kansas to concentrate on golf.
But during his one season with Washburn he actually faced the Jayhawks on their fabled Allen Fieldhouse court.
“We were ranked No. 2 in Division II and Kansas was ranked No. 1 in Division I,” Woodland recalled. “I guarded [future NBA guard] Kirk Hinrich. I scored three points and shot 1-of-7 from the field. We lost by 30, but I got to play in Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas wound up in the national championship game that year, and I wound up playing golf.”
Playing in McKenzie, Woodland drained two deep 3-pointers and handed out two assists in leading the West Coast to a 17-3 lead after one eight-minute quarter. With fellow Nationwide pros Andres Gonzalez and Rob Oppenheim also on the West team, the 32-year-old Broadaway never had a chance.
“If I could play either sport professionally,” Woodland said, “I’d probably still choose basketball. I love it.”
The Golf Channel loved it so much they taped the contest for later use. Broadaway loved scoring the East Coast’s lone basket so much that he vowed to “keep shooting until they start going in” for the rest of the evening.
Not wishing to witness a pulled hamstring or sprained ankle, Shulman quickly headed home. But noting his good friend Duke’s late desertion, he also made a fascinating point: “There’s a fine line between playing on the PGA Tour and playing in McKenzie Arena.”