ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky names his favorite golfers on Tour

Though he spends most of his days watching football as an analyst for ESPN, former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky says he enjoys watching golf more than any other sport.

“Golf’s my favorite sport to watch on TV, honestly,” Orlovsky told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on this week’s episode of Subpar. “Because I watch so much football, and I’ve lived football. What is it about golf? I think for me, I was somehow part of this very small group on planet Earth that did something at the highest level. So I think I’m wired to think that everything should be that easy. And golf just isn’t.”

Orlovsky equated watching players like Max Homa pulling off a shot to what Patrick Mahomes does on the football field — it’s tough to comprehend for most of us mere mortals.

So as both a player and fan, who does Orlovsky like watching the most?

“I’ve become a massive Rory [McIlroy] fan,” he said. “I felt like I was always a Rory fan, but the way he’s handled the last year or two, his leadership, his personality, his character has shown. I love Rory.”

Orlovsky also cited Homa, Jordan Spieth, and of course, golf’s GOAT, Tiger Woods.

“Tiger’s my favorite athlete ever,” he said. “I’ll always love Tiger. I love [Jon] Rahm, because his golf swing makes absolutely no sense to my brain.”

Another player Orlovsky likes? Reigning Masters champ Scottie Scheffler.

“I love Scheffler,” he said. “Just the unassuming greatness that he has has been really cool for golf. Golf’s got so much young talent.”

For more from Orlovsky, including his Masters predictions, check out the full interview below.

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As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.