Can PGA players afford to be out of shape?

With John Daly in the lead at the PGA Championship this week I immediately got to thinking do PGA players have to be in shape? I have to say I’m a believer in physical fitness and golf working hand in hand. However I’m staring to question the this belief a little bit. Angel Cabera won the US Open this year and Daly has been a top the leaderboard a couple times recently. Obviously there are numerous examples throughout the history of golf as well.

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Granted the majority of the players seem to be in pretty good shape. I would venture to say that you can be flexible, athletic, and fat all at the same time. If your flexible and athletic that should be most of what you need to be a good golfer. At least in theory.

I’ve written a couple posts on this topic in the past, but it continues to fascinate me on weekly basis. Some the weather conditions are absolutely brutal too. These PGA players are competing in heat that is 90 degrees plus quite often. The humidity is usually through the roof. I’m just waiting for someone like Lumpy (Tim Herron) to collapse on the course. It doesn’t happen though, and they continue to march forward.

So maybe this is just a big joke that guys like Herron and Daly play on the other PGA tour players. Sitting back watching them work so hard while they smoke a cigarette and have a beer during their round. Although my contention is that it will have to catch up with them at some point. No matter how much you try and prove that you can be a good golfer, and be completely out of shape. I still can’t be convinced that it doesn’t give players an edge to be physically fit.

What do you think? Does physical fitness and golf have a connection of success with PGA tour players?