NASCAR, USGA, FOX tee off on Daytona's Lake Lloyd

"Definitely not," Creamer said after warming up before Wednesday's Daytona Tee-Off event, a FOX/NASCAR cross-promotional opportunity that was held in the infield of Daytona International Speedway.
 
"It's fun. I think golf should be more exciting at times. You see it when we're playing the Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup for the men and women; how excited everybody gets and that's fun. It brings excitement to it.
 
"This is neat, just being able to come here and be with the guys, and have the cross (promotion)."
 
FOX begins its 15th season of NASCAR coverage Sunday with the running of the 57th Daytona 500. In June, the network will air coverage of the 115th U.S. Open golf championship from Chambers Bay in Washington.
 
Creamer and PGA golfer Marco Dawson were joined by Holly Sonders and Brad Faxon of FOX, several NASCAR drivers and members of the NASCAR on FOX broadcast crew inside Daytona International Speedway. Players were give three chances to hit a shot to a 20-foot x 20-foot island green situated approximately 85 yards out in Lake Lloyd.
 
With a hard left-to-right wind blowing across the lake, it wasn't an easy task for most.
 
Dawson took the overall title to earn a $10,000 donation to the First Tee program.
 
"That shot? Honestly it's not very hard at all," Dawson said.
 
What makes it difficult for the amateur, he said "is they put a lot more pressure on themselves.
 
"I did it for a charity today but this was just fun for me. I wasn't really expecting a lot.
 
"I think these guys put a lot more pressure on themselves because it's a lot harder for them to do. It's not like them stepping into the car and riding around the track."
 
Michael Waltrip edged Denny Hamlin for the driver's honors, managing to keep one ball from winding up in the water.
 
Although he has competed in several pro-am events and is an avid golfer, Hamlin said the combination of the wind and small green made it more difficult than it looked.
 
It was much harder, he said, than racing at 200 mph out on the high banks of DIS.
 
"Yeah, I mean as far as pressure is concerned because we're out of our element," he said. "On the race track, we know what we're doing half the time and here we know what we're doing about 10 percent of the time. It's different.
 
"I always get way more nervous before something like a golf tournament than I would any race. Definitely. Just because people are watching, staring at you, looking at your swing; they're breaking you down. They really don't analyze the way you drive when you're inside the car that much."

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