Ozzie brings Spirit of St. Louis to PGA stage
ST. LOUIS — Officially, Ozzie Smith is not in the field at this week’s PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club.
Unofficially though, he’s the 157th player in the 156-man field. St. Louis is the center of the golf universe this we e k and who better to represent the PGA Championship than Mr. St. Louis Sports himself ?
Smith, the Hall of Fame shortstop who starred for the Cardinals from 1982 to 1996, is the ambassador of this PGA Championship and the president of the Gateway chapter of PGA Reach, a program he helped initiate to bring golf to inner-city kids.
It was Smith, nicknamed “The Wizard’’ in his playing days for his remarkable fielding prowess, who rode on a wagon pulled by the Budweiser Clydesdales into Bellerive on Monday to make a ceremonial delivery of the Wanamaker Trophy that will be awarded to the winner this week.
If it were up to Smith, though, he’d be teeing it up with the likes of Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy in Thursday’s opening round.
Smith, who didn’t start playing golf until after he retired from baseball, is now addicted to the game.
“I’ve got the disease, man,’’ Smith told The Post. “I didn’t play the game of golf until I retired in 1996, but I’ve gotten myself to the point where I’m between a 4 and 6 handicap. I love the game, because it fills that void in my life. I think for most athletes it fills that competitive void that you have, because you’re competing against yourself, the course and the people you’re playing with.’’
Smith, known more for his play in the field with 13 Gold Gloves and 15 All-Star Game appearances, took a jab at his skills at the plate (.262 career batting average and 28 career home r uns) when he said, “I’ll tell you, I’ve got as much talent swinging my golf club as I did swinging my baseball bat.’’
That doesn’t stop him from practicing as much at golf as he did as a ballplayer.
“I have a net downstairs at my house so during the winter when you can’t get outside and I still want to be able to swing the club I can do it,’’ he said. “I’ll go down there at 3 o’clock in the morning sometimes when a [swing] idea comes to me. I’ll go down and hit balls.
“Hitting balls sometimes can be very therapeutic. It puts the mood in a place that relaxes me. When I’ve got something on my mind I’ll go down and pound balls. Yes, I’ve got the disease.’’
He, too, has proven himself to be an immeasurable cog in promoting the PGA Championship in St. Louis, as well as making a push to get more inner-city kids involved in the game.
“For me, growing up in South Central Los Angeles I was never introduced to the game of golf,’’ he said. “There’s so many kids in the inner city that the only sports that they know are baseball, basketball or football. Golf is another option for them. Not only can you play it, but it’s a multi-million dollar business. It would be great for young kids to get exposed to it early. It can offer a different avenue to make a living.’’
Smith, who plays in celebrity golf tournaments, like the recent American Century event in Lake Tahoe, said he’s worked on his game intensely “because people expect so much out of you when you go to these tournaments and you don’t want to embarrass yourself.’’
“Just like baseball, I realized if I’m going to get good at this I’ve got to spend time digging it out of the dirt,’’ he said. “It’s not until you hit 3,000 or 4,000 balls before it even starts making any sense to you. But the most dangerous time for golfers is when you think you’ve got it figured out.’’
One thing Smith, known for his signature back flips on the baseball diamond, has figured out is this: No more back flips.
“The last one I did was in 2002 in front of the Hall of Fame and I pulled a calf muscle, scraped up my knee on the concrete and messed up a pair of pants,’’ he said. “It wasn’t pretty. My 63-year-old bones don’t heal the same way as they used to, so I try to stay away from that.’’
Smith won’t, however, stay away from the PGA this week in his home city. He’ll be omnipresent all week, proud of what he helped bring to St. Louis. “Hopefully this week people will see that we’re much more than just a baseball town,’’ Smith said. “They’ l l see that we’re a great
sports town.’’