Thread: 18 holes … with Patrick Mannelly

18 holes … with Patrick Mannelly

A long day with the long snapper as consistent Bear seeks consistency at Ivanhoe

Teddy Greenstein ON COLLEGES, ON GOLF June 5, 2011


Patrick Mannelly's Bears resume is sterling: One muffed snap in 13 seasons. (And lest you think it's easy to fire a football between your legs and hit the punter's hands in eight-tenths of a second, consider the Desmond Clark follies.)

His golf resume might be even more exceptional. Mannelly has teed off at virtually every celebrated Chicago-area course: Medinah, Chicago Golf, Butler National, the Merit Club, Conway Farms, Bob O'Link, Skokie, Shoreacres, Old Elm, Rich Harvest, Olympia Fields, Beverly, North Shore and Butterfield ("Not since the re-do," he added).
I've been very, very, very lucky," he said. "People here love golf."

And the Bears.

"Yeah, that helps," he replied.

What also helps is that the Atlanta-born and Duke-educated Mannelly is great company on the course — laid-back and witty.

Said Mannelly of the wispy hair that protrudes from the back of his baseball cap: "Oh, yeah, it's a mullet. It's a conversation starter, maybe part of a mid-life crisis. My wife loves it, maybe because it drives my father-in-law (288-game winner Tommy John) nuts."

Upon noticing that my ball was teed up a few inches in front of a tee box: "That's a first down."

His explanation for why he began playing football in the second grade: "It's the South."

Asked if he has a hobby other than golf: "My daughter."

When the NFL lockout began, wife Tamara suggested her husband try something new, like the guitar. Instead he decided to revamp his swing.

At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, Mannelly hits a slight draw, which routinely produces 250-yard drives. Those were plenty long when he played as a member at the twisty and tree-lined Glen Flora Country Club.

But last year he joined Ivanhoe, a hilly and picturesque 27-hole facility in Mundelein that deserves to be ranked way higher than Golf Digest's standing of No. 22 in Illinois. The shortest par-5 from the black tees — not the tips — is 510 yards, so Mannelly, 36, wanted a power boost.

The result inconsistency. He shot 79 on Wednesday but one day later needed 45 to complete the front nine.

"Disgusting," he said as we grabbed refreshments at the turn.

Tennis was actually Mannelly's first passion. He played No. 1 singles on a co-ed team of 12 year olds that won the Atlanta city championship.

Mannelly's focus shifted to football, thanks to his brother, Bernard, who played offensive line at Notre Dame. Mannelly grew up rooting for Georgia, his mother's alma mater, and verbally committed to play there before taking a longer view.

"Georgia was bigger than the Falcons then," he said. "But my dad told me, 'You'll take a (college) visit, and bells will go off in your head.' That's what happened at Duke.

"I don't understand why more kids don't go to schools like Rice, Northwestern, Stanford and Vanderbilt."

The Bears took him in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL Draft, and on the field before his first game, a defensive tackle from Jacksonville named John Jurkovic approached him and asked, "You gonna (mess) one up today, rookie?"

It'll make for great fodder if Mannelly ever visits with "Jurko" and the "Afternoon Saloon" crew on WMVP-AM 1000

Mannelly remembers his first NFL play: "I was staring at (punter) Todd Sauerbrun upside down and said to myself, 'Take a (mental) snapshot.'"

Nearly 14 years later, Mannelly, who signed a two-year, $2.29 million extension in December, has bonded with Bears mainstays such as Olin Kreutz, who encouraged him to fire at the flags one day at Glen Flora. Mannelly shot 3-under on the back nine for a career-best 67.

Mannelly gets after it with fellow Bears special teamers and Ivanhoe members Robbie Gould and Brad Maynard. They're both 2.5 handicaps, leaving Mannelly to joke that he has to "beg for strokes."

We opted for a $20 Nassau with "Team Patrick" — Mannelly and Blackhawks play-by-play man Pat Foley — taking on the Big Ten Network's Rick Pizzo and me. Foley (76) and Pizzo (back-nine 36) helped cancel out Mannelly (85) and me (91). We split our bets, so no money exchanged hands.

Mannelly's frustrating day had a comical conclusion. He blew a downhill, 5-footer for par on Marsh No. 9 past the hole, then casually knocked in the comebacker between his legs, with his back to the cup.

Yes, the man who founded longsnapper.com is at his best while firing backward.

tgreenstein@tribune.com

Twitter @TeddyGreenstein



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