When it comes to historically bad golf swings among sports media legends, Charles Barkley will always be the gold standard. But after seeing a SportsCenter segment last night highlighting the form of ESPN legend Chris Berman, Sir Charles may have some competition.
The PGA Tour is in Bristol’s backyard with the Travelers Championship in the Hartford area. So naturally, Berman as an ESPN personality and golf lover was playing in the pro-am portion of the week’s festivities.
Berman’s appearance was highlighted on Scott Van Pelt’s late night edition of SportsCenter as the “Best Thing I Saw Today” and after looking at the video footage you will totally understand why. The segment was shared on X by Van Pelt’s running buddy Stanford Steve.
One of our favorite days of the year. The legend, Chris Berman at The Travelers, aka The 5th Major. pic.twitter.com/Da9hXuNu1M
— Stanford Steve (@StanfordSteve82) June 20, 2024
The comparison to Scottie Scheffler with the footwork is simply too much. But while Scheffler is the top golfer in the world, Berman is… not so much. The fact that Chris Berman can even hit the ball with that golf swing is a remarkable achievement in its own right. Forget parallel, he doesn’t even get the club to perpendicular. And the follow-thru is extraordinary. It looks like Ichiro getting a head start out of the batter’s box trying to leg out an infield ground ball.
If TNT is looking for a new format for The Match, they could do worse than pairing Berman and Barkley with a couple of PGA Tour pros and see what television magic could be created.
