Play
E
van geiselman is on the surfer’s
equivalent of the Korn Ferry Tour. He’s
spent the past three seasons grazing
the edge but not quite dropping into the World
Surf League, where you get the ultimate prize
money, endorsements and glory.
That dream nearly ended in 2015, when
a barrel on Oahu’s famous Banzai Pipeline
brought down Geiselman, snapping his leash
and slamming him unconscious into unfor-
giving coral. If not for the immediate and
brave rescue by a fellow surfer, Andre Botha,
he wouldn’t have lived. “It gave me a better
understanding of what to be grateful for,”
Geiselman says. “To appreciate my family, my
friends, my girlfriend every day.”
Part of that renewed love of life involves
playing more golf—which pairs nicely with
the surfer’s life of traveling to sunny coastlines
around the globe. When Geiselman is home in
New Smyrna Beach, Fla., he’s a regular at the
town’s Donald Ross-designed muny, where the
skins games draw more than a few mini-tour
players. “I’m usually donating,” he says, “but
it’s fun to try to make a birdie and steal a skin.”
Geiselman, 26, got into golf eight years ago,
when his sponsor invited him to ride along
in a cart and take some swings. “It captured
me right away, how it humbled me in ways I’d
never imagined,” he says. Now he’s a danger-
ous 5-handicap who shot 73 in his first rattle-
bottom event, the annual Iron and Sand,
which combines golf and surfing. “Didn’t win
the overall but walked away with $2,500 cash,
which was nice.”
Geiselman, who counts Rickie Fowler and
Sam Ryder as golf buddies, feels the game “is
just the total opposite of the surfing lifestyle—
which has a lot of degenerates. The dignity
and classiness, I find refreshing.... Don’t get
me wrong, surfing is my love and passion, but
golf ’s not far behind.” —max adlerWave of FortuneEvan Geiselmanenjoys a life ofgolf and surfing12 golf digest | issue 4. 2020