Winnipeg Jets defenceman Dylan Samberg will trade in his hockey stick for a bag of clubs this summer as the team’s representative in a local PGA Tour golf event.
Samberg, currently in his third season as a regular with the Jets, has been granted a sponsor’s exemption to compete as an amateur in August’s CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open at Southwood Golf and Country Club.
The defenceman follows in the footsteps of teammates Mark Scheifele, who competed in 2018 and 2022, Kyle Connor (2019), and Morgan Barron (2023).
The Minnesota native, drafted 43rd overall by the Jets in 2017, calls himself an avid golfer and is currently a member at Southwood.
“(I’m) in awe of the skills and consistency of professional golfers,” Samberg said in a release Monday.
“It will be challenging and exciting to tee up beside them and watch how they compete and manage an important tournament like the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open.”
The tournament runs Aug. 22-25, and will once again raise funds for the True North Youth Foundation’s Project 11 Mental Wellness Program, bringing in $177,000 for the foundation over the past two years.
Samberg, who turns 25 next week, has 11 assists in 42 games with the Jets so far this season.
The team next hits the ice Tuesday at Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg for a matchup against the New York Islanders.