Bryce Baringer shows up to golf tournament, takes first place

Former Michigan State punter Bryce Baringer showed up to a golf tournament and took first place. He’s a dual-sport star.

Bryce Baringer is an athlete. We all knew. We knew it when he was booting 60-yard punts on the regular a couple of seasons ago in East Lansing and proved it again last season with the New England Patriots.

There’s no doubt about it, the dude is good at what he does.

But football is apparently not the only thing he does. In fact, he’s pretty decent at this golf thing, too. He actually showed up to the Massachusetts Amateur Qualifying round at the Berkshires and he shot a 69 to make the cut for the Amateur Championship in July.

New England Patriots punter Bryce Baringer figured he’d drive out to the Berkshires and take a swing at the Mass. Amateur Qualifying round taking place there yesterday.

He ended up shooting a 69 to come in first place and make the cut for the Mass. Amateur Championship in July,… pic.twitter.com/otX5kJ6blm

— Alexandra Francisco (@ByAlFrancisco) June 19, 2024

This is just an insane display of athleticism. No, golf isn’t a sport where you’ll see crazy athletes (look at John Daly) but it’s still impressive to go play a completely different sport where people have trained for years and finish in first place. I mean, Baringer is a professional football player and he’s winning first place at golf tournaments on the side.

According to Patriots.com, this isn’t the first time that he’s tried qualifying at an amateur tournament as he did so back in Michigan years ago but he never made the cut. But he felt like he had a shot in this one.

“I tried qualifying a few times back when I was at home living in Michigan and never made it through,” Baringer told Patriots.com over the phone while making the drive back. “I thought it might be worth another shot — it might be cool. I found out that the Massachusetts Amateur Championship is not too far away in Framingham and that it was still during our break. It’s just a good time for me to be able just stay competitive, and I had full support from everybody. It was really cool.”

This golf success isn’t a huge surprise to him, though. In high school, Baringer loved golf and football and decided to pick the latter. His dad would have been fine with either choice because he, too, loved golf, but it seems like he made the right decision.

But, hey, if he keeps golfing like this, he may have a professional sport to play in the offseason.