For most hockey players, the end of their season offers a chance to step away from the pressures of sport and enjoy some much-deserved R&R.
The same can’t be said for Vancouver Canucks forward J.T. Miller. Instead of enjoying a beach vacation, he will be teeing it up at a local qualifier in hopes of securing a spot in the 2023 U.S. Open.
This year’s Open is being held at the Los Angeles Country Club from June 15-18.
Miller will join 78 other golf hopefuls at The Club at Nevillewood in Presto, Pennsylvania, on Monday in a one-day qualifier. Only a limited number of players from the local event will then advance to the final round of qualifying for one of golf’s four majors.
And even though Miller is no stranger to the stress of high-level sport, he admitted that with golf being an individual sport, he’s going to be feeling the pressure.
“I’m still going to be nervous,” Miller told NHL.com. “I’m a human. That’s part of it. In hockey, you have 18 other guys that can bail you out. You can make mistakes and the outcome of the game may not change, but if you do that in golf? I think that’s why a lot of hockey players are so fascinated with the sport of golf is how hard it is personally and how hard it is mentally.”
It also isn’t the first time that Miller has traded in his hockey stick for a driver. Last year, he played in the same local qualifying event at Butler Country Club in Butler, Pennsylvania. He shot a 7-over, 77 and did not advance.
However, with the scheduled Olympic break in the NHL season last year, he didn’t have a lot of time to get his golf game in top form.
“I had like one day to practice,” Miller said. “I hadn’t played in like seven months outside of one round with rental clubs, which is how it is every year. From October to April, we probably play three to five rounds of golf if we get lucky on the road with rentals, so I came home and it was basically my first round, and I was humbled quickly by how fast the greens were. I just wasn’t ready. I probably was in the low-20s with putts on the front nine alone but started to figure it out on like the eighth hole and I played 1-over from there on, so I played pretty well.”
This year with the Canucks’ season ending April 13, he is feeling more prepared.
But even if Miller doesn’t qualify for one of golf’s biggest events, he will always come back to the sport in the off-season as a way to unwind after a gruelling NHL season.
“It’s good mental reset to get away from hockey,” Miller said. “It’s obviously a lot different than hockey, which is probably why I like it.”
Miller had 32 goals and 50 assists in 81 games for the Canucks during the 2022-23 season — his fourth with Vancouver.
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