Alex Albon is a man of many talents. While he is blisteringly quick behind the wheel of an F1 car as evidenced by his exploits with Williams, he is also a pretty handy golfer. That being said, his skills on the golf course are thanks to his pro-golfer girlfriend, Muni “Lily” He, who has been competing in the LPGA Tour since 2019. Mercedes driver George Russell, unfortunately, has been on the receiving end of Albon’s golfing skills.
Over the years, Albon has received several golf lessons from Muni. These lessons are paying off well now, as Albon’s performances on the golf-course forced George Russell to leave the sport. The Briton seems to have ditched golf, and has now taken up padel as his new hobby.
On the ‘Chequered Flag podcast, Albon described how he and Russell get incredibly competitive. “George [Russell] was getting into Golf. I don’t think he was good enough to play Golf! So, he had to think of another sport to play, and that was Padel,” the 27-year-old said.
Russell himself admitted that Albon is the better golfer, ever since he started dating Lily Muni. Muni, who is 24 years old, has been a part of the LPGA Tour since 2019. The Chinese golfer is a very popular figure, and has an endorsement deal with Nike.
For Russell, however, things seem to have worked out in the world of padel. For F1 drivers today, padel seems like the number one sport of choice when they are away from the track. Earlier this week, the likes of Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris among other F1 stars were spotted playing the sport.
How Alex Albon failed during Netflix’s first major F1 x Golf collaboration
In November of 2023, Netflix set up a gigantic crossover between the world of golf and F1 through the ‘Netflix Cup‘. It took place right before the Las Vegas GP, and was a hugely successful event in terms of viewership.
Stars of Netflix’s Drive to Survive and Full Swing docuseries joined forces for a one-off golfing competition where an F1 driver was paired up with a pro-Golfer. The teams were: Lando Norris and Rickie Fowler, Carlos Sainz and Justin Thomas, Pierre Gasly with Collin Morikawa, and Alex Albon with Max Homa. These four teams battled it out, but only one emerged as the winner.
A lot of attention was on Albon. However, he crashed out in the very first round, as did avid golfer Norris. In the end, Sainz and Thomas won the trophy, after a hard fought win over Gasly and Morikawa.
