Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves tried it and, at least for the average non-pro golfer, posted a very solid round Monday afternoon in Tennessee.
It just wasn’t good enough to earn a spot in this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event.
Reaves participated in a qualifying event Monday for this week’s Knoxville Open on the Korn Ferry Tour, which is the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit. He shot a 6-over 76 at Willow Creek Golf Club in Knoxville, leaving him 11 shots behind the mark needed to qualify for this week’s tournament. Caleb Hicks won qualifying with a 64, and three others earned entry into the tournament with 65s.
“You can’t really compare anything to that,” Reaves said after signing his card on Monday, via the PGA Tour. “I was nervous, I’ll say that, but it was a lot of fun. I was on the first tee shaking a little bit, I 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 +2.2 handicap rating in California and played competitively in high school before pursuing basketball full-time.
The idea of playing on Monday, he said, didn’t require much effort. He was “lying on the couch” bored, he said, and just decided to give it a try. He put it together very quickly.
“I was lying on the couch the other day and I was bored, and I called (my friend Trent Swaim) and said, ‘Find me a Monday classified over here,’” Reaves.
Reaves is coming off his best season in the league this spring. 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 contract with the team this fall.
Reaves and the Lakers went 47-35 last season and made the playoffs, but were eliminated in the first round by the Denver Nuggets.