Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves was among the celebrities to compete in the American Century Championship golf tournament in Lake Tahoe this week, and he wound up finishing tied for 13th place with 47 points.
The winner of the event was former tennis player Mardy Fish, who finished with a ridiculous 83 points. Joe Pavelski (79), Annika Sorenstam (68), John Smoltz (64) and Derek Lowe (62) rounded out the top five. The full leaderboard for the weekend can be viewed here.
During the three-round tournament at Edgewood Tahoe South, a modified Stableford format in which points are awarded for how a player fares on a hole rather than a score in relation to par was used. Albatross (3 under on a hole) was worth 10 points, hole-in-one was worth eight, eagle worth six, birdie worth three, par worth one. A bogey was worth zero while a double-bogey or worse was negative-two.
Reaves and the rest of the field were competing for $750,000 in prize money with the winner, Fish, taking home $150,000. The American Century Championship has raised more than $8 million over the years for many different charities.
While he didn’t ultimately win, Reaves found his stride in the second day. He shot a 79 in his first round and then followed that up with 71 and 78 in the final two rounds.
“I mean, I go into everything I do to win,” Reaves told Lakers Nation before the tournament. “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.”
Reaves will surely use this as motivation to get even better at the sport of golf. He has played some pro events this summer and surely will be back at next year’s American Century Championship if he is available. All of the guys that placed have been playing this event for years and are familiar with the course, which gave them an advantage over first-timers like Reaves.
JJ Redick looking forward to coaching Austin Reaves
Now that the American Century Championship is over, the focus will begin to shift back to basketball for Austin Reaves as he prepares for the 2024-25 season. He will have a new coach in JJ Redick, who already expressed his excitement to coach Reaves.
“Oh, he’s excellent and I cannot wait to coach Austin. And one of the reasons I can’t wait to coach him is because of his competitive spirit. He has a real mental toughness and competitive approach every single night.”
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