Q&A: NFL Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis dishes on Pro Cup, his game and more

When former Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis talks about the Pro Cup, a match-play tournament at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida, beginning Dec. 12, he sounds like he’s ready to bust into the end zone as he did to great effect during his playing days first at Notre Dame and then with L.A./St. Louis Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Bettis is the captain of a team of 12 retired NFL players, which includes QB Billy Joe Tolliver and wide receiver Tim Brown, who will compete at the Copperhead Course against former athletes from Major League Baseball (John Smoltz, Joe Carter), NBA (Ray Allen, Jon Barry) and NHL (Jeremy Roenick and Brett Hull). The athletes will square off in a three-day, match-play event that includes doubles and singles matches.

The Pro Rivals Open is a new competitive golf tournament series that brings together professional athletes from the four major sports leagues and will determine once and for all, which sport produces the best golfers.

Bettis, who is a five handicap and called himself arguably the worst player on his team, talked about his passion for the game, how he got started in golf and his motivation to improve.

How did you first hear about the Pro Rivals Open and what was your initial reaction to it?

JB: John Smoltz reached out to me and told me about the concept and asked me if I would be willing to be a part of it. And I love the idea of what it is and its competitiveness, at its most basic level, right?

As a retired athlete, you want to get your juices flowing, competitively, you get a chance to see how your game stacks up, but even bigger than that, you get a chance to spend some time with guys and it gives you an opportunity to widen your circle and your net of friends and people who love golf the same way you love it. They’re sprinkled all over the country. So just another opportunity to spend time with guys that you don't normally get a chance to spend time with. So it's a great concept and you just hope it's good for television.

You're a captain. What does the job entail?

JB: Well, I think it'll be pretty interesting in the sense that you get a chance to interact with your guys on a high level. These guys are all self-motivated. As a captain, you don't have to do an awful lot. These guys are the high end of the spectrum so they want to get after it. All you need to do is point and let them loose.

How did you originally get into golf and when did you start playing?

JB: The guy who really got me going was Kordell Stewart (former Steelers QB). He was a good golfer. I would go out with him, he beat me up and I’d have to pay him. And then I said to myself, ‘This is getting old.’ And when I retired, I said, ‘You know what? I've got to be respectable.’ That was my thinking, I wanna be respectable because I know all these charity events, people ask you to do these things and you don't wanna show up and you can't hit the ball. So that was the initial idea. I didn't realize it was as addictive as it was.

I set out to be an average player. But then all of a sudden, it's like, you mean to tell me if I practice more, I could become a better player?

The one thing about athletes as opposed to a normal amateur is that we're used to practice. Football players, we practice five days to play one day. So that concept of practice was not foreign. So I was like, ‘Well, heck, let me just get to work,’ you know. So, I just started grinding. I wouldn't even go to the course. I would go to the driving range every single day for 4-5 hours.

I started off just wanting to be an average golfer and then all of a sudden the bug hit me and it became an obsession.

How big of an influence did your barber in Detroit have on getting you into golf?

JB: I was 18, just going into college and he introduced me to the idea. And so from there, I was never really any good, but I always would pick it up when I’d go back to Detroit in the summer and stuff like that. I would try to go out and play, but just kind of messing around with it. I do credit him with putting the golf clubs in my hand for the first time.

Had I not lost any money to Kordell, I probably would still be an 18 handicap. But because of that, I said enough is enough.

What handicap do you play to now?

JB: So right now I’m about a five handicap. I'm probably the worst of my whole team. We got some sticks, but the benefit is that the format is a shamble and a scramble and I’m a good putter and have a really good wedge game. So with that format, it allows me to be a better version of myself.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Q&A: NFL Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis dishes on Pro Cup, his game