While virtually every professional athlete is competitive, Tom Brady takes things to another level. As anyone who’s watched the quarterback ply his trade on the football field can confirm, TB12 hates losing and, on the whole, does a pretty good job of avoiding defeat. That’s not to say that the occasional loss doesn’t happen, though.

One of those failures came on the golf course in a match against Jordan Spieth. While there’s no shame in losing to a professional golfer at his own game, Brady still wasn’t happy. When it came time to hit the 19th hole, he took things so hard that he refused to talk for the next 90 minutes.

Tom Brady made his name in football, but he also knows a thing or two about golf

It goes without saying that Tom Brady is a talented football player; no one wins seven Super Bowls by chance, no matter how lucky you are. The quarterback’s skills aren’t limited to the gridiron, though.

While he doesn’t have the luxury of an entirely empty schedule like some of his retired peers, Brady apparently finds enough time to hit the golf course and hone his craft. TB12’s handicap has been listed at 8.1, and, as we saw during The Match, he’s more than capable of living up to that billing.

The quarterback has also hit the links with some PGA pros over the years and earned high praise for his on-course abilities.

“He basically played nine holes like a tour pro — hitting his drives 300 yards, hitting his seven iron like 180 (yards) and making putts,” James Driscoll, who played with Brady at a 2013 Pro-Am, said according to WEEI. “He literally played those nine holes like a tour pro. I was like, ‘Oh my God. This guy is incredible.’”

Jordan Spieth got the silent treatment from TB12 at Augusta National

After their time on the course, Driscoll had plenty of praise for Brady. The quarterback also left quite the impression on Jordan Spieth, albeit from a slightly different perspective.

During a 2019 appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Spieth explained that he faced TB12 in a two-on-two match at Augusta National. While the quarterback and his partner were leading when they reached the 18th hole, Brady found himself in the bunker. He ended up bogeying, and Spieth birdied, sealing the victory.

Needless to say, the then-Patriots star wasn’t pleased.

“You’re supposed to go in at Augusta and have lunch and hang out, and he didn’t say a word to me for like an hour and a half,” Spieth explained. “I mean, the most competitive… I feel like I’m very, very competitive, and he is the most competitive human being I’ve ever met. This is like a fun round.”

That attitude shouldn’t be surprising, given what we know of Tom Brady and his NFL career

Taken in isolation, Spieth’s story about Brady seems like a goofy one-off story to laugh about whenever the two men hit the golf course. The quarterback’s behavior, though, shouldn’t be surprising to football fans.

While Brady was never the most athletic player on the roster, he willed his way to NFL success. Despite joining the New England Patriots as a sixth-round pick, the quarterback had the ultimate faith in his abilities. He told Robert Kraft that he would prove that drafting him wasn’t a mistake, then started working his way up the depth chart. From there, the rest is NFL history.

If that isn’t enough proof of his competitiveness — maybe it speaks more to confidence — plenty of other stories about TB12 have emerged over the years. Mere hours after winning Super Bowl 55, for example, he called a member of the Buccaneers coaching staff to discuss how the team could still improve. On another occasion, the quarterback risked falling off a cliff in order to hit the perfect golf shot in pursuit of a win.

On the whole, being competitive simply seems to be part of Tom Brady’s nature. It’s helped him reach incredible heights, and he’s not prepared to stop now.

“I don’t think that he wants to,” Spieth explained when Patrick asked if Brady realizes he’s trapped in the heat of competition. “I think he likes that.”