Turning Wheels for Kids

On Oct. 25, I had the pleasure of taking part in Strikeforce’s charity golf tournament benefiting Turning Wheels for Kids, a California-based group which donates bicycles to underprivileged children. I knew it was going to be rough, as I hadn’t taken my clubs out of my travel bag since the first “Ultimate Fighter” finale in 2005.

We had a few late scratches, so our team at San Jose Country Club that day was made up of myself, Sherdog Radio Network listener Jordan from Bakersfield, our own Greg Savage, and our celebrity, American Kickboxing Academy heavyweight prospect Daniel Cormier.

Cormier’s first words? “I have not played for a long time.”

What follows are some of the “highlights” of our day.

We started on the 13th hole, which was along a residential street. Cormier took his first swing and immediately drove his ball into the area of the surrounding houses.

Cormier’s AKA trainer, Bob Cook, showed us why he’s an MMA coach and not a golf instructor: after whiffing on his first effort, “Crazy” Bob nailed one for all of 15 yards with a driver.

Next up was the Hooters girls’ hole. The ladies made Cormier a bit nervous, placing “I love Hooters” stickers on his shirt right where his own, um, hooters were. This was also the “closest to the pin” hole; Cormier got nowhere near the pin with his drive.

I teed off on the hole nearest to the clubhouse, which meant it had the most people around. My drive didn’t make it to the ladies’ tee.

By the 18th hole, I was just getting warmed up. It was the “longest drive” hole, and I came up 10 yards short of the 300-yard drive.

While we golfed, Cormier was on his mobile phone, being interviewed by Josh Gross. Savage interrupted the conversation by grabbing the phone from Cormier’s hand. That’ll teach Gross to back out on us for a round of golf.

At the dinner afterward, Savage and Strikeforce fighter Luke Rockhold put all of their raffle tickets into the basket for the plasma HDTV... only to be denied when their numbers weren’t drawn.

The craziest part of the day, however, came when Cormier was about to tee off at one hole. A golf cart pulled up about 75 yards away, and we told them they might want to move.

“We’ll just duck down,” the guys in the cart laughed.

Cormier drove his ball off the windshield they were ducking behind, and we couldn’t help but laugh. The guy driving the cart didn’t see the humor in it, as he jumped out of the cart and headed toward the former Olympic wrestler, yelling profanities.

“Josiah, get back in the cart!” the rest of the cart started yelling him.

Cormier stopped laughing for a second and calmly said, “Josiah, get back in the cart.”

For more information on Turning Wheels for Kids, visit www.turningwheelsforkids.com.