Jacksonville Jaguars Mascot Wins Closest-to-the-Hole Competition at TPC Sawgrass

In an occurrence that doesn’t seem physically possible, a man encased in a giant animal costume has won a golf event in Florida.

PGA.com reports Curtis Dvorak, the man behind the fur of Jacksonville Jaguars mascot Jaxson de Ville, donned his costume and dropped a tee shot within a few feet of the cup at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday.

Dvorak participated in a closest-to-the-hole event being held at the course as part of the lead-up to the PGA’s upcoming Players Championship tournament. Each competitor had two swings at the 17th hole—a tricky island-green setup with the pin placed 117 yards from the tee box.

It’s a difficult shot for pros in sweat-wicking polos, much less a guy clothed in a helmet and 30 pounds of synthetic fur. Didn’t matter. Jaxson de Ville nailed it. 

On his first shot, Dvorak feathered a beauty onto the green that stopped five feet from the hole. His was the closest ball of the day, beating out past Champions Tour winner Bob Duval, two-time PGA Tour winner Len Mattiace, Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee and Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles, per the PGA.com report. 

This is apparently old hat for Dvorak, who told the The Florida Times-Union’s Garry Smits he’s nearly a scratch golfer and has participated in so many charity tournaments as Jaxson de Ville that the suit isn’t much of a hindrance anymore.

Dvorak’s shot was worth a $10,000 prize, which The Players Championship will donate to the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund, a group that provides financial and emotional support for families with children battling cancer. Dvorak’s just glad he could bag some more funds for the cause.

“I’ve been trying to win this for coach Coughlin and the Jay Fund since it started,” he told Smits.

Bravo, Jaxson. I commend you for this achievement. I'm also excited for the coming paradigm shift in golf training, as I can only imagine the pros will take your lead and start practicing in various large and ungainly animal costumes—like weight-resistance training, but with zero peripheral vision.

I pray one day we’ll see live shots from the Masters showing a line of elephants, lions and turtles warming up at the Augusta National driving range.

Dan is on Twitter. He’d give Jaxson 10 strokes on the front and the back and still get destroyed.