Justin Thomas and Kevin Kisner, former NCAA golf champions at Alabama and Georgia, respectively, placed a high-profile wager prior to the National Football Championship between the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs.
The loser had to wear the shirt of the winning team.
Well, Kisner lost, and so the veteran, conveniently paired with Thomas in the opening round, wore an Alabama shirt down the 17th fairway at Waialae Country Club yesterday.
Here’s a round up of questions the two gamblers answered after the first round of the Sony Open.
Justin, I got to ask you first, was that the best looking ‘Bama jersey you’ve ever seen?
THOMAS: It’s definitely the best Kis has ever looked in a jersey. I don’t know about the best looking ‘Bama jersey. They all look good, so it was all in good fun.
It is in good fun. Kevin, what are your plans for that jersey now?
KISNER: We’re going to raffle it off and make some money for charity for kids. Justin was gracious enough to let me keep the Alabama jersey, and I’ll give it to the recipient who wins the raffle. It’s all in good fun, but we’re going to help out some kids and make some money for the Kisner Foundation.
That’s admirable. Dufner is not going to bid on it?
KISNER: We told him he’s going to win and we needed his address so we can send it to him. We were going to rig it.
It says something about you guys and the camaraderie you have that you can do that in good fun. When you’re out there playing alongside a friend like that, does it fire you up at all?
THOMAS: I don’t know about fire you up. It’s just, I would say, more enjoyable. We can kind of talk between shots, and we both know each other’s family really well. So you can kind of catch up here and there about that. But we spend a lot of weeks on the road the entire year, so we see a lot of each other. Sometimes maybe a little bit too much.
What are you going to bet next year, Kevin?
KISNER: We’ll probably roll it again. If I’d have got the points, he’d have been wearing it, and I was lobbying for the points the whole week, and he didn’t give them to me. So I’m still not sure about this bet.
Justin and Kevin, I know it was about golf today, but it was a lot of fun out there. Kevin, you couldn’t sprint fast enough to get that jersey off after you had to put that on.
KISNER: I’m blaming that bogey on him. I would have never hit that bad of a shot if I wasn’t thinking about that ‘Bama jersey. No, it’s all in good fun. We’re going to do a lot of good with that and raise a bunch of money.
Following up on that, auctioning it off, signing it today, how is that going to make an impact?
KISNER: We’re going to raffle it off through my foundation, sell a bunch of raffle tickets, pick out a winner, and then give that money back to the children in our community. Justin is good enough to let me do it, and I’ll get him back in the future.
Justin, best looking 16 to ever wear the Crimson Tide jersey?
THOMAS: Definitely the best today that I saw. Yeah, it was cool to have that happen. I’m sure Kis and I would both agree that we would gladly sign right now to have that same exact bet happen next year.
Kis is joking, we didn’t see a whole lot of putts falling, and you finally get one at the last. 67 to get around, no bogeys. I know not the start you wanted but still managed to get a score out of it.
THOMAS: Yeah, definitely played better than the score showed. All of us had a hard time getting the putts going. Duff made a couple, but it’s not like they were from any long range by any means. This is a place where that’s what’s cool about it. You don’t need to — over the course of a week, definitely low number takes it, but you go shoot a couple under, it’s never going to kill you. You just try to throw in one hot low round, and Kis and I are both capable of that.
Tua went to school about five minutes up the street. Any thanks you want to give to Tua for what he did in the game?
THOMAS: Yeah, I think myself and the rest of the Alabama fans think it was an unbelievable performance. Hats off to Coach Saban for even taking the risk and putting him in. But I’m hoping to somehow get some of those Tua vibes here in Honolulu for sure.
What were the points?
KISNER: 3 1/2.
You wouldn’t budge?
THOMAS: He asked a lot. I wouldn’t give it.
KISNER: I’m more of a gambler than he is, and he still wouldn’t budge.
THOMAS: I was nervous going into the game, and I wanted any advantage I could possibly have.
KISNER: I didn’t even text you during the game. That was pretty nice.
THOMAS: I didn’t text you either.
KISNER: I just said are you ready before it?
THOMAS: And I said no.
Credits: ASAP Sports, Getty Images
