Plymouth Township ― When it came to selling its team championship to fans in Michigan, LIV Golf turned to one of the greatest team champions in sports history.
Former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady, a winner of a record seven Super Bowls, filmed a hype video for LIV Golf, which is playing this week just 20 miles from Michigan Stadium, where Brady first began to make a name for himself.
LIV Golf’s team championship is taking place at The Cardinal at Saint John’s Resort, in arguably the biggest team golf competition to be held in Michigan since the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township.
“Every sport at its core is built on the same truth ― do your job or you let someone down,” Brady said in a 91-second clip filmed for LIV Golf. “When it’s just you, you miss your shot, you fail yourself, but you move forward. But when it’s a team sport and you don’t deliver, you fail everyone and you never forget.
“That burden, it’s different. The pressure, it’s heavier. You carry their shot on your shoulder, but here’s the thing ― that pressure, that challenge, it gives far more than it takes, because when it releases, when individuals are playing for each other, that’s the brotherhood of sports and what every athlete truly lives for.
“This weekend in Michigan, the state of champions, a team champion of golf will be crowned.
“One course, one shot, one chance, to do your job together.”
Brady, 48, was at Michigan from 1995-99, before he was a sixth-round draft pick by the New England Patriots in 2000. He played for the Patriots until 2019, winning six Super Bowls. He then left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with whom Brady won another Super Bowl.
He retired after the 2022 season, and then began fully embracing golf ― a sport for which he’s long had a passion. He participated in “The Match,” a made-for-television golf series, three times, including in 2021, when he teamed up with Phil Mickelson to face Aaron Rodgers and Bryson DeChambeau. Mickelson and DeChambeau now are two of the biggest names in LIV Golf. In 2020, during “The Match,” Brady, teaming with Mickelson against Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning, holed out a wedge shot from more than 100 yards on live TV, while Charles Barkley heckled him.
There was more UM flavor at the LIV Golf team championship on Friday, with former Fab Five basketball star Jalen Rose hanging out on the range before Day 1 of the competition got under way.
The LIV Golf semifinal matches are Saturday, with the 2025 team champion to be crowned Sunday. Tens of thousands of fans are expected to attend the three-day LIV Golf team championship, the tour’s first-ever stop in Michigan.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
