Video golf king to defend Golden Tee title in championship

away at an arcade machine called Golden Tee that’s been around since Tiger Woods was in middle school. In his best year, he brought home over $100,000.

But now Haas, who is 35 and lives near Cleveland, is trying to play less video golf and focus more on his fulltime gig selling insurance. But that won’t keep him from trying to defend his title at the Golden Tee World Championship later this month.

Being married with a nearly 2-year- old son isn’t conducive to hanging out at the chicken-wing place perfecting his virtual chip and putt. A few years ago, he got areal job andhascutbackon his time in front of the machine.

He still plays a few hours nightly, but tries to get home in time to put little AJ to bed.

“I want something more stable and traditional,” he said. “I don’t know how long Golden Tee is going to be around.”

The machine already has beaten the odds by stay- ing relevant in an era of sophisticated home video gaming. The coin-operated Golden Tee became ubiquitous in drinking establishments soon after it came out in 1989. In the early 2000s, technology allowed players to compete with each other for prize money onmachines linked by phone lines. Since 2005, players in the U.S. and Canada have been connected by the internet, which makes it possible for them to win money from each other in real time every day.