Michael Phelps on Golf, Oscar Pistorius and Making Mistakes
Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps may be retired from swimming, but he's definitely not retired from sports, as he'll prove on tonight's premiere of The Haney Project on The Golf Channel. That's right - Phelps is now trying his hand at golf. The best part? It's all being documented on a reality show.
Phelps told Martha MacCallum on Monday morning that golf is a sport he wants to master because it's one "you can play forever." His love of the game goes back to high school, when he almost chose the green over, well, the blue.
"The funny thing was, I wanted to quit swimming and be on the golf team when I was in high school," he said, adding that his mother helped him "think through" that decision a bit more before giving up the water. His final choice, obviously, led to historic Olympic feats.
Phelps shared some video from the show, even poking fun at himself and the footage. "Oh, some of it's really bad; some of it's horrible."
"I want to improve my golf game," he added. "There's a certain point I want to get to, and I know it's going to take a lot of practice, and it's going to take hitting a lot of balls on the range ... [but] it's a night and day difference from when we started filming the show to today."
In light of recent headlines surrounding the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, Phelps reacted to the story.
"What Oscar did in the sport of track and field is amazing ... what he did and what he overcame. My thoughts and prayers go out to [Reeva's] family ... It's just a tragic event," he said. "I think one thing that ... I think a lot of people think that celebrities and athletes are different, but we're all just human beings."
Watch the full interview:
