From Bryson DeChambeau to Rickie Fowler, New York Jets’ Sauce Gardner Unites PGA Tour & LIV Golf With Latest Obsession

Sauce Gardner is your latest victim of the Golf bug. The self-taught New York Jets cornerback—he learned from watching golf highlights on YouTube—is in a frenzy showing his skills on X (formerly Twitter) and asking for feedback. Well, the Detroit native got some handy tips from PGA Tour pros who are playing in the Motor City and an invitation from the reigning U.S. Open champion. Here is what they said. 

Bryson DeChambeau invites Gardner for a lesson

Is a collaboration between Bryson DeChambeau and Sauce Gardner coming? It depends on the latter, for the reigning U.S. Open Champion is eager to bring the NFL cornerback for a round of golf. DeChambeau runs a YouTube channel with 788K subscribers. Alongside playing against his LIV players, like Sergio Garcia, and Phil Mickelson, the 30-year-old has also teed off against popular Golf YouTubers like Grant Horvat and offered lessons to Paige Spiranac, the celebrity influencer. So, don’t be surprised if it’s the 23-year-old from Detroit next on the Crushers GC captain’s channel.

Rickie Fowler wants Sauce Gardner to focus on short-game

The defending champion of the Rocket Mortgage Classic likes the possibilities—the speed, and the athletic moves. Asked what advice he would give, the six-time PGA Tour winner said, “First keep swinging hard and then a big thing is work on short game and putting. For a lot of people, I feel like high handicappers, I feel like that’s kind of the easiest way to start taking strokes off.” Not just for Gardner; Rickie Fowler added that this goes for most recreational golfers as well. The pursuit of distance should be the last thing on your mind. 

Will Zalatoris believes Gardner has got speed

Fowler’s playing mate, Will Zalatoris, too, had similar thoughts. Right off the bat, the Wake Forest alum admitted Sauce Gardner got speed. Echoing Fowler, Zalatoris added, “Clean up a little bit of the short game there and he’s going to be pretty good pretty quick.” The 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship winner spoke from personal experience. Zalatoris played with Calvin Johnson and Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions for the Pro-Am. “[T]hose guys were silly good around the greens. That’s pretty impressive,” the 27-year-old said.

Akshay Bhatia wants Sauce Gardner to release the club

Akshay Bhatia is off to a good start on the Rocket Mortgage Classic. And he thinks Sauce Gardner is, too. Bhatia carded 8-under 64 grabbing the clubhouse lead. In the post-round media interaction, he was asked about Gardner. Bhatia didn’t know who that was, but now he does. 

Asked to review Gardner’s golf skills, the two-time PGA Tour winner was more precise than his peers. Bhatia said, “[O]n his short game he’s using a lot of lower body, which you don’t really want to do, so that was first off… He’ll just get used to kind of releasing the golf club. Looks like he kind of holds on a little bit. He’s got some work to do, but off to a good start.”

He actually might be. Gardner posted his scorecard on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle. The 23-year-old carded 90 in his first full 18-hole round. While his playing mates posted 102 and 104. The nine months of football won’t allow Gardner much time for Golf. But the New York Jets cornerback wants to continue on simulation.