Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves gave it a try and, at least for the average non-professional golfer, he put together a very solid round Monday afternoon in Tennessee.
It just wasn’t nearly good enough to earn a spot in this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event.
Reaves competed on Monday in a qualifying event for this week’s Knoxville Open on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit. He shot a 6-over 76 at Willow Creek Golf Club in Knoxville, putting him 11 shots behind the score needed to qualify for this week’s tournament. Caleb Hicks won the qualifier with a 64, and three others earned entry into the tournament with a 65.
“You can’t really compare it to anything,” Reaves said after signing his card through the PGA Tour on Monday. “I was nervous, I’ll say that, but it was a lot of fun. I was shaking a little bit on the first tee, didn’t hit a good ball, but other than that it was a lot of fun to play some competitive golf.”
Reaves, who grew up in Arkansas, is an avid golfer. He has a California Handicap Index of +2.2 and played competitively in high school before focusing on basketball full-time.
According to him, the idea of playing on Monday did not require much effort. He lay on the couch, bored, he said, and decided to just give it a try. It came together very quickly.
“The other day I was lying on the couch and I was bored, and I called [my friend Trent Swaim] and said, ‘Find me a Monday qualifier here,'” Reaves told The Los Angeles Times
Reaves is having his best season in the league. The 25-year-old averaged 15.9 points, 5.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game with the Lakers last season, his third with the team. He will enter the second year of his four-year, $53.8 million deal with the team this fall.
Reaves and the Lakers went 47-35 last season and entered the playoffs, only to be eliminated in the first round by the Denver Nuggets.
