Tomorrow marks the beginning of one of the most famous golf tournaments in the world \u2013 the 2026 Masters at Augusta National. A field of 92 of the world’s best golfers will take on the legendary course, including a mixture of past champions, recent major winners, and all the top 50 ranked players in the world. It\u2019s an exclusive event brimming with tradition and grandeur, and no doubt plenty of the stars of F1 will be watching intently.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because golf is one of the paddock\u2019s most popular sports, and many of F1\u2019s stars enjoy a round or two in their downtime. But that\u2019s not the only crossover between racing and golf \u2013 from bilateral investments and social media collaborations to driver competitions and F1 team golf club ranges, there\u2019s plenty linking the two sports. Let\u2019s unpack all the crossovers that bring F1 and golf together…<\/p>\n
Paddock pastime<\/p>\n
In many ways, golf is the perfect game for F1 drivers off-track. The slower and relatively calming nature of the sport allows for them to switch off from the intense, adrenaline-fuelled race weekends \u2013 whilst simultaneously providing an opportunity to work on mental strength and concentration.<\/p>\n
The courses are lush and verdant \u2013 a nice contrast to the asphalt of the race track \u2013 and there\u2019s an abundance of locations all over the world to play, suiting the lifestyle of the ever-travelling drivers.<\/p>\n
So, it\u2019s no wonder most of the grid enjoys a round from time to time \u2013 Carlos Sainz<\/a>, Lando Norris<\/a>, Charles Leclerc<\/a>, Lewis Hamilton<\/a>, Alex Albon<\/a>, Lance Stroll<\/a>, Pierre Gasly<\/a>, Fernando Alonso<\/a> and Sergio Perez<\/a> are all known to play between races. Some are more skilled than others \u2013 with Sainz rating himself as the best in the paddock \u2013 but we need to see a driver competition soon to really settle the scores!<\/p>\n And speaking of the Masters \u2013 there’s even a driver who has played on the exclusive Augusta National golf course.<\/p>\n Fresh off the back of his maiden F1 victory at Miami in 2024, Norris played a couple of rounds at the iconic venue, thanks to McLaren CEO Zak Brown\u2019s connections in the US. Despite lacking a lot of sleep after some lengthy celebrations in the Sunshine State, Norris insists it\u2019s his favourite golfing memory \u2013 a true \u2018pinch me\u2019 moment for the 2025 World Champion.<\/p>\n Netflix Cup<\/p>\n Netflix produces two similar docuseries for F1 and golf, with Drive To Survive debuting in 2019 and Full Swing following in 2023 \u2013 so it made perfect sense for the streaming service to produce the ultimate mash-up of the two sports.<\/p>\n The Netflix Cup featured Albon, Sainz, Gasly and Norris pairing up with some of the best golfers in the world for a one-off tournament before the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023.<\/p>\n Americans Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau took part in the eight-hole matchplay event, which featured an additional challenge \u2013 racing in golf buggies to the green.<\/p>\n After a tight competition, it was the pair of Sainz and Thomas who were victorious \u2013 although perhaps they celebrated a little too hard as Sainz broke the trophy!<\/p>\n Mega McIlroy investment<\/p>\n Last year, Rory McIlroy clinched the legendary career Grand Slam after getting the better of Justin Rose in a playoff to win his first Masters title. The Northern Irishman dropped to his knees after sinking the winning putt in one of the most emotional sporting moments of 2025. He\u2019ll be fighting hard to defend his title in 2026 \u2013 but did you know McIlroy is also affiliated with an F1 team?<\/p>\n Back in 2023, McIlroy became the latest celebrity to invest in Alpine<\/a>, joining NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, and Wrexham owners and actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. McIlroy was impressed with the Enstone team\u2019s vision and was keen to invest in a sport he had loved since he was a child.<\/p>\n Since then, the Northern Irishman has attended a number of races around his busy competition schedule, even bringing the Ryder Cup to the Alpine<\/a> garage at Austin in 2023.<\/p>\n There is clearly mutual appreciation between stars of the sport, as Hamilton, Sainz and Norris have also all invested in McIlroy and Tiger Woods\u2019 TGL golf league.<\/p>\n Golfers are F1 fans too!<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just McIlroy who enjoys racing action on the weekends \u2013 plenty of pro golfers have been spotted around the paddock over the years.<\/p>\n Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter has always been a petrol head \u2013 he\u2019s attended races at Silverstone, Las Vegas, and Austin over the last few years, but has been coming to race weekends for well over a decade. The Briton even took part in a few virtual Grands Prix back during lockdown, surprising the drivers with solid pace and natural skill.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, two-time major winner Greg Norman also enjoys motorsport, in part due to his close friendship with 1992 F1 World Champion Nigel Mansell. The Australian attended the season opener in Albert Park this year while 2013 US Open winner Justin Rose was a guest of McLaren at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n Of course, another golfer that regularly spends time in the paddock \u2013 who is a huge F1 fan for obvious reasons \u2013 is Alex Albon\u2019s fiancee, Lily Muni He.<\/p>\n The LPGA golfer met Albon back in 2019 and the pair announced their engagement earlier this year \u2013 Muni He has played rounds with several of the drivers, but it doesn\u2019t seem to be a fair fight!<\/p>\n Carlando collaborations<\/p>\n As two of the grid\u2019s most prominent golfers, Sainz and Norris have experienced some unique opportunities to play golf in some interesting places, with notable athletes.<\/p>\n Ahead of the 2021 United States Grand Prix, Sainz played a round with Poulter, who helped the Spaniard with some tips and tricks on the course. The Williams man also pulled up to Miami Beach golf club to play with YouTube golfer Grant Horvat.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Norris took on compatriot Justin Rose in a couple of golf challenges with Golf Life, while also participating in the 2025 BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am at Wentworth with his friend and major winner Matt Fitzpatrick. Norris clearly takes his golf seriously, saying that he was more nervous for that competition than any of his Grands Prix…<\/p>\n Red Bull and McLaren clubs<\/p>\n F1 and golf equipment share some interesting similarities; both use state-of-the-art materials and technology to strive for efficient and optimised sporting performance. Therefore, it\u2019s perhaps no surprise that some teams have started producing their own golf clubs, with Red Bull<\/a> collaborating with TaylorMade and McLaren<\/a> launching their golf line in April.<\/p>\n Paddock games<\/p>\n Media day on Thursday at each Grand Prix is a great opportunity for the teams and drivers to have some fun before the intensity of the weekend really ramps up.<\/p>\n And often the paddock is filled with activities for team members and paddock guests to challenge themselves during quieter moments on track. Golf-themed games frequently feature, and of course, they are usually super popular amongst the drivers who are keen to show off their skills.<\/p>\n Australia, Singapore, Great Britain, Baku and Las Vegas have all previously set up putting games \u2013 although Albert Park might need to rethink putting Sainz and Albon with golf clubs on stage together…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tomorrow marks the beginning of one of the most famous golf tournaments in the world \u2013 the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-594286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}