It is well known that Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves is an avid golf player in his free time. In fact, Reaves is such a huge fan and regular player that he received an invitation to compete in the American Century Championship, a prestigious tournament in which celebrities and athletes compete against each other in Lake Tahoe.
Last year’s winner, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, won’t be participating this year because he will be heading to Paris for the Summer Olympics as part of Team USA. That leaves an open field for this year’s tournament and Reaves is amongst the favorites.
According to SportsBetting.ag, Reaves has the third-highest odds to win the entire tournament:
It appears Lakers guard Austin Reaves is quite the golfer, as he isn't the favorite to win the American Century Championship, but he's pretty damn close 👀👀 Only Mardy Fish and Tony Romo are ahead of Hillbilly Bogey via @SportsBettingAG pic.twitter.com/09iRhgFo05
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) July 9, 2024
The only people with greater odds than Reaves are former tennis player Mardy Fish and retired Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, each of whom have won this tournament in the past with the former being last year’s runner-up. Reaves even has better odds than other former tournament champions such as former NBA guard and coach Vinny Del Negro and MLB pitcher Mark Mulder, who is a three-time champion.
But the Lakers guard is ready for everything that this competition will bring and, as is always the case for Reaves, will do everything he can to come out on top.
“I mean, I go into everything I do to win,” Reaves noted. “There’s not anything that I go to do, if it’s cards, bowling, whatever you want me to go play, I’m gonna play it to win. I’m sure there will be times where I’m frustrated out there, but it’s such a tough game and you got to get through those times to see what you’re made of.”
The competition kicks off on Friday with Reaves being paired with former NBA player Chandler Parsons and US soccer analyst Taylor Twellman for the first round.
Lakers’ Austin Reaves ‘super excited’ to compete in American Century Championship
While Austin Reaves is extremely competitive and has hopes on winning the American Century Championship, the Lakers guard admitted that he has been following the tournament for some years now and is beyond excited just to have received the invitation.
“Just super excited,” Reaves said. “Like I’ve said, just the passion I have for golf, if I’m not playing basketball, I’m probably 90% golfing. That’s basically all my life is when I’m not playing basketball so when I got that invitation, it was special because I’ve been paying attention to it the last two or three years so it was special.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!