J.R. Smith spent much of his career schooling defenders on the basketball court, but as of September, he’s the one receiving lessons.
The retired shooting guard whose illustrious career includes two NBA Championships alongside LeBron James and a Sixth Man of the Year award is now spending his days knocking down birdies from long range at the college level. Smith, 36, made his golf debut at Elon’s Phoenix Invitational, posting an opening round 83 followed by scores of 78 and 79 to shoot 27-over-par 240 for the tournament. Smith finished 81st of 84 players in the field while his school, The Aggies, finished 11th out of 13 teams.
followed @TheRealJRSmith for the first five holes today in his first tournament as a member of the @NCATAGGIES Golf Team. Had a pair of birdies, a great chip and stuck his approach on No. 9 to within a foot from the pin. @WFMY @ncatsuaggies pic.twitter.com/s7q6rpk1pa
— Brian Hall (@bhallwfmy) October 11, 2021
Like much of his career, Smith’s first college golf tournament wasn’t without fanfare and memorable, even meme-able, moments. Before he got out on the course or swung a club, Smith’s arrival was making headlines across the web. You see, unlike the rest of the field whose career earnings stem from summer jobs they held to pay for textbooks and cafeteria nachos, Smith has made over $85 million in the NBA, which was evidenced by the Bentley he arrived in. As the college kids would say, this was a “serious flex.” Although he didn’t top the leaderboard, Smith definitely won best car in his class.
JR Smith pulled up to his first college golf tournament in a Bentley 🐐
(Via IG/uncle_demp) pic.twitter.com/KCmDHqE1tE
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) October 11, 2021
But It wasn’t all Bentleys and bubblegum. Smith’s mediocre play, albeit impressive by the average amateur’s standard, was overshadowed by an on-course mishap that didn’t show up on his scorecard, but most certainly did on social media. After an errant tee shot on the 12th hole, playing as his third, during his third round, Smith walked into a nest of hornets that abruptly and mercilessly attacked the flailing freshman. The bizarre scene resulted in a 15-minute delay and became an intriguing highlight of the tournament. After the round, Smith jokingly compared his hornet ordeal to Michael Jordan’s famous “flu game.”
Here's the higher quality video of @TheRealJRSmith getting stung by Yellow Jackets at the Phoenix Invitational at Alamance Country Club. Glad he's doing better now. @overtime @RiggsBarstool @GolfDigest @GOLF_com pic.twitter.com/PJBtC6Jwv7
— Jared Bunder (@jbunder12) October 12, 2021
JR Smith and his fellow Aggies teed it up at the UNCG Grandover Collegiate event this past weekend finishing 15th with a 79-over 943. Davidson College won the tournament with a 16-under 848. Toledo (855, 9-under), UNCG (857, 7-under), Wofford (864, E) and Elon (865, 1-over) followed Davidson in the top-5.