OFF THE WALL

Golf knowledge from Tour players’ wives varies

They had been dating for three months when Jon Rahm’s wife attended her first golf tournament. He was a senior at Arizona State and had already won the Ben Hogan Award as the nation’s best college player, writes Doug Ferguson of The Associated Press.

Her knowledge of golf? “Zero,” Rahm said.

That much was evident to hear Kelley Rahm, who played tennis as a junior and threw the javelin at Arizona State, talk about that tournament.

“I thought he was very far down on the team, like one of the worst players,” said Kelley (pictured). “He never talked about golf. His roommates were always talking about how they finished. I just thought they were all better than him.”

She arrived with a girlfriend of another Arizona State player and they set out to find out where they were on the course. She said they ran into the mother of a UCLA player and asked for help.

“We were like, ‘We’re looking for one of two people, my friend’s boyfriend and the other is, well, you won’t know him, but his name is Jon Rahm,’ ” Kelley said. “She’s like, ‘Honey, he’s very good. He might win the tournament.’ ”

Rahm tied for fourth that week and it wasn’t long before Kelley figured out that her eventual husband, who won a second Ben Hogan Award that year, was indeed very good.

There are exceptions, of course. Tom Hoge’s wife played college golf at Montana State. Billy Horschel’s wife played at

J.T. Poston’s wife grew

Florida. up around the game because her dad had a place at Kiawah Island. But far more common is

Lacy

Homa.

Max Homa says they lived a few hours apart and suggested as a first date that she accompany him to the Long Beach City Amateur so he could watch his friend, and then they would grab lunch. To his surprise, she agreed.

Her golf knowledge then? “Negative one,” Homa said. He said his friend was playing great at the Long Beach tournament, driving two greens on par 4s and reaching a long par 5 in two.

“She asked why the other guys weren’t doing that,” Homa said.

She sees how hard Homa works. She understands golf a lot better.

For Homa, that’s not necessarily a good thing.

“She tells me all the time, ‘With how often you practice, the fact you ever hit it in the water is crazy,’ ” Homa said.

Now he said she asks plenty

of golf questions, just apparently not the right ones. “They’re usually the ones that hurt my feelings,” he said. Trivia question

On this date in 1989, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Chicago Bears 28-3 for the NFC title. Joe Montana threw three touchdown passes. One S.F. TD came on the ground. Who scored it?

He said it

From RJ Currie of Sportsdeke.com: “Canadian Olympic figure skater Tessa Virtue has gotten engaged to Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. I suggest a spring honeymoon — the Leafs usually aren’t busy that time of year.”

Trivia answer Fullback scored on a 4-yard run for the final TD that day.

Tom Rathman