My Best Friend
JONATHAN KAYE
PGA TOUR PRO
MIKE RUCKER
PANTHERS DE
RUCKER, 30, and Kaye, 35, met at the 2003 Wachovia Championship in Charlotte. Their agent, Peter Schaffer, introduced them, but Kaye says he recognized the 6'5", 275-pound Rucker, the Panthers' career sacks leader: "It's hard for a guy that big to walk around a golf course and not get noticed." Rucker has Kaye at number eight on his speed dial, and Kaye called Rucker from the Sony Open in Hawaii before Carolina's win on Sunday to wish him luck. Then he played his round thinking of the game. Said Kaye, "I was getting updates on the golf course."
JASON GORE
PGA TOUR PRO
KYLE BOLLER
RAVENS QB
GORE, 31, and Boller, 24, attended Hart High in Newhall, Calif., but didn't know each other until Dean Harrington--the school's football coach and a golfing buddy of Gore's--introduced them three years ago. Boller helped Gore navigate his quick rise to fame after last year's U.S. Open. "We talked a lot on the phone because he gets a lot of attention, and at the time some pretty crazy things were happening to me," Gore says. The pair, who belong to the same country club in Valencia, Calif., hung out at the Mercedes Championships in Maui two weeks ago.
STEWART CINK
PGA TOUR PRO
MARC SAVARD
THRASHERS C
CINK, ranked 28th in the world, and Savard, third in the NHL with 62 points, are neighbors in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth and golf together at the TPC at Sugarloaf where they met on the putting green. Cink, 32, thinks so much of Savard's golf game, he let the Thrasher caddie for him at July's John Deere Classic. "He's about a zero handicap," Cink says. "It was natural that we would start playing together." Cink gives Savard, 28, three strokes a side (Savard has won three times), and he gives Cink lip service in return. Says Savard, "I chirp at him a bit."
TWO PHOTOS
ROBERT BECK (KAYE, CINK)
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RICK STEWART/GETTY IMAGES (RUCKER)
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FRED VUICH (GORE)
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JOHN STROHSACKER/WIREIMAGE.COM (BOLLER)
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MIKE ZARRILLI/WIREIMAGE.COM (SAVARD)