D-backs’ Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly play in pro-am and talk best golf courses they’ve played this year

Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly played in the pro-am ahead of the 2023 Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club last week and talked about the best courses they’ve played on the road this year.

The two teammates played alongside professional golfer Darren Clarke, who won The Open Championship in 2011.

Gallen tossed the second-most innings in MLB this year (210), but when he’s not on the mound, he enjoys spending time on the links.

“I feel like I play more golf on the road during the season than here because it’s so hot,” Gallen said. “Any time we can get on the off day or day we’re not pitching, we’ll go out and play, usually, as much as we can. We’ve been lucky to play some really nice courses too, which doesn’t hurt.”

Absolute ~naturals~ on the course! 🤩pic.twitter.com/4Y52T5Qpsv

— Charles Schwab Cup Championship (@SchwabCupFinale) November 9, 2023

“We played Pine Valley (located on the New Jersey side of Philadelphia), that was definitely a bucket list course,” said Kelly, who lived in Bryn Mawr, a Philadelphia suburb, for about four and a half years growing up.

Swingin’ easy + hittin’ hard! ⚾️@zacgallen23 & Merrill Kelly checking in! #SchwabCupFinale | @Dbacks pic.twitter.com/uFL1Ld5lCk

— Charles Schwab Cup Championship (@SchwabCupFinale) November 8, 2023

“We played some really nice courses out in New York. We got out and played (Bluejack National) on an off day, that was pretty special,” Kelly said about Tiger Woods’ course in Montgomery, Texas. The veteran pitcher was born about 50 miles away in Houston.

“Baltusrol (in New Jersey) we played when we played the Yankees,” Gallen added. “Marion (in Massachusetts) is cool. Peachtree was a lot of fun in Atlanta, I mean it’s great. We’ve had some guys on our team that have been around a while and made some good connections, so to be able to have us out, it’s been a blast.”

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