STANFORD, Calif. _ The world's top pro golf prospect faces a quandary few 20-year-olds could comprehend.
While Maverick McNealy might have the type of talent to chase the legacies of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, the Stanford senior isn't even certain he wants to play professional golf.
He could instead follow his dad's famous footsteps into the Silicon Valley business arena _ a decision that would turn the world of big-money sports on its head.
"I didn't name my first son Maverick because I wanted him to follow the crowd," said Scott McNealy, the Silicon Valley billionaire who co-founded Sun Microsystems.
The latest star from a school whose golf alumni include Tiger Woods, Tom Watson and Michelle Wie seems equally intrigued by the thought of launching a socially conscious company as chasing green jackets and major championship trophies.
While the perfectionist nature that golf demands drove McNealy to amateur greatness, the glamorous life of a tour pro doesn't hold great appeal to a young man who grew up in Portola Valley more like a blue-collar hockey player than the scion of technology elite.
For McNealy it will come down to how much of a mental challenge remains with golf after this season ends.
"One of the motivating factors for turning pro is if I think I can get better at golf," he said. "If I don't think I can get better, there goes a ton of motivation."
