By Michael Arkush
SAUCIER, Miss. -- Tyler Clippard grew up with two passions: Baseball and golf.
Baseball would become his living. Clippard, 41, spent 16 years in the big leagues as a reliever, pitching for 10 different teams.
Yet, throughout this vagabond existence, one constant remained:
His other passion, golf.
He took his clubs with him on every road trip. That’s a lot of road trips. During one baseball season, he estimates that he played 60 rounds. Other guys would sleep in till noon. Clippard was on the links.
Which is where he is once more, and he couldn’t be more thrilled.
"I feel like a real professional golfer,” said Clippard, who captured the first two events of The PRO Tour season, both in playoffs. "Sometimes I have to pinch myself.”
Clippard, who was raised in Palm Harbor, Fla., took up the game at the age of nine.
"My dad had an old set of clubs in the garage and we would mess with these kids around the house as young kids,” he said. "Finally, my parents said, ‘You’ve got to stop playing golf inside the house.’ He took me to a driving range and I fell in love.”
To the point golf was the profession he thought he would eventually pursue. Especially when baseball wasn’t loving him back.
Attributing it to his lack of size — "I was probably 5-8 or 5-9, and 130 pounds," he said — Clippard failed to make the varsity in his first two years of high school.
At the same time, he was winning one title after another in golf, becoming one of the top players in his county.
"I was really a better golfer when I entered high school than I was a baseball player,” he explained.
Enter his dad, who believed in him. Then and forever. The senior Clippard bought a house in nearby New Port Richey and, presto, this time his son made the team. Then between his sophomore and junior years at Mitchell High School, Clippard grew about five inches.
His baseball career took off. His golf career, not so much. He reached out to a bunch of schools in hopes of receiving a scholarship offer. Two or three schools sent someone to watch him pitch but didn’t follow up.
"Once I realized I was a little better than I thought at baseball, throwing 91 or 92, and striking out the world,” he said, "I thought maybe I’d do the baseball thing.”
Good idea.
Now, however, it’s time for the golf thing.
"I’m so lucky to have this outlet, the ability to play competitive golf, which I was doing already," said Clippard, who had been teeing up in qualifiers for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Golf Championship and the U.S. Open. "I can play for some money and bragging rights. I have a reason to go practice now.”
As much as he embraces the competition, the camaraderie is just as invaluable.
"That’s the best part of it,” he said, "hanging out with guys you would never get a chance to hang out with. We’re starting to become a family.”
Speaking of family, Clippard feels blessed to spend time at home with his kids, ages seven, four, and one.
And blessed to still follow the passion that was such a big part of his own youth.