Columnist Victoria Sun: Dilfer wants fairways and greens after career of sacks and TDs

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 | 10:17 a.m.

Victoria Sun's golf column appears Wednesday. Reach her at 259-4078 or by e-mail at victoria@lasvegassun.com.

Trent Dilfer isn't ready for the PGA Tour just yet, but that doesn't mean a professional golf career isn't in his future.

After the free agent quarterback retires from the NFL, he said he may compete professionally.

"I feel like when I'm done with football, it's something I'll explore doing, but there are so many great players out there," Dilfer said during a Las Vegas appearance this week. "There are so many guys better than me that if I were to ever do it, I would have to have maybe a 10-year plan to reconstruct my body and my attitude to be a golfer instead of a football player."

It may take less time than he thinks.

Dilfer, who guided the Baltimore Ravens to victory in Super Bowl XXXV in January, is a regular competitor on the Celebrity Players Tour.

On the first weekend in May, he shot rounds of 68 and 62 at the Morgan Run Resort and Club during the Stan Humphries Celebrity Classic in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

Still, Dilfer insists the 10-under-par 62 was more of a fluke than a regular occurrence.

"I played great for one weekend," said Dilfer, who said the score was his best round. "I'm not that good.

"I think every once in a while you get into a zone and I was in it golf-wise.

"I've been working very hard on my game. I didn't know if I had it going into that tournament. It was one of those things where I didn't try to be perfect and ended up just really getting into a rhythm more than anything else."

Dilfer was so relaxed he said he didn't even know how many strokes he was under par until the 14th hole which he birdied to go 8-under.

"Then, I thought, wow, I want to try to shoot 59," he said. "I came close. Lipped out putts on 15 and 17, made birdie on 16."

Dilfer has been playing golf competively since high school.

The 29-year-old has a home in Incline Village and said that the Shadow Creek is one of his favorite courses.

Dilfer plays the bulk of his golf February through July, but seldom plays once football season starts.

He said he isn't the only NFL player who has caught the golfing bug.

Dilfer estimates 40 percent of the players in the league golf at some level.

"Golf is huge, huge right now," he said. "A lot of us played it because we had the opportunity to play it growing up.

"A lot of the guys in the NFL hadn't had the opportunity to play growing up, but now that they do have a chance, they've realized how neat it can be as a competitive outlet.

"Instead of going to play pick-up basketball or tennis, they look at golf as you can be outdoors on these beautiful courses for four or five hours and compete. You can be a 20 handicap and compete with a scratch (golfer) because of a handicap system."