Ben Clymer never golfed much growing up in Bloomington.
He had his hockey commitments, of course, and found golf too expensive. Too time consuming. And plus: "When I did play, I'd shoot like 4 billion," he said.
But when Clymer turned pro in 1998 after one year of hockey with the Gophers he suddenly had the money and the free time in the summers to get serious about golf. He joined Olympic Hills in Eden Prairie. While playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning - winning a Stanley Cup in 2004 - he caught on at the same top-notch places in Florida as a then-unknown Zach Johnson.
Soon, Clymer was holding his own on the golf course.
"I got really golf-crazy," he said. "I really liked the philosophy of it all, just a total golf nerd."
Fast-forward to Tuesday at Montgomery National Golf Club. Clymer, now 39 and in the investment banking business (as well as a hockey analyst for Fox Sports North), entered one of 12 Minnesota Golf Association qualifying events for the 114th State Amateur Championship.
Despite "not knowing the course well at all" Clymer saved par out of the bunker with a 10-foot putt on the opening hole. He birdied the par-5 second hole and got to 2-under when his sand shot from a greenside bunker dropped for a birdie on No. 3.
"I started to think, 'This could be a pretty good day,'" Clymer said.
