J.R. Smith - NBA Player turned College Golfer

[Hobert]

For some reason, I find J.R. Smith's foray into college golf, just up the road from me in Greensboro, NC, to be quite interesting and fun. I love that a former long-time NBA player, who played on the biggest stages over his career, admitted to being nervous before his rounds.  I also enjoy that while he could simply play for fun, he chose to try to compete at the college level at the age of 36. 

https://www.si.com/golf/news/j-r-smith-made-his-college-golf-debut-and-it-was-pretty-fascinating

[CRW]

I'm not opposed to him playing, but I feel like there is some young potential player that is losing out so this guy can stay in the limelight.  

[RickyBobby_PR]

19 minutes ago, CRW said:

I'm not opposed to him playing, but I feel like there is some young potential player that is losing out so this guy can stay in the limelight.  

How is he stealing someone’s spot? If there was a better player dont you think the coach would have put that player on the team?

Do you think international women coming to play college golf in the states are stealing a spot from a potential American woman getting on a team?

[Chip Strokes]

1 hour ago, CRW said:

so this guy can stay in the limelight.  

calling NC A&T State "the limelight" is a stretch that a gymnast would be envious of.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Hey if you can hack it you can hack it. He also shot a 83/78 I believe so he is by no means lighting anything up. 

[CRW]

1 hour ago, Chip Strokes said:

calling NC A&T State "the limelight" is a stretch that a gymnast would be envious of.

This thread and all the media coverage is the limelight. It wouldn’t have mattered what school he played at, being a former NBA player will keep him in coverage for the foreseeable future. Probably right up until he’s done playing. 

[CRW]

2 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

How is he stealing someone’s spot? If there was a better player dont you think the coach would have put that player on the team?

Do you think international women coming to play college golf in the states are stealing a spot from a potential American woman getting on a team?

No, I don’t think the coach would have put a better player in that spot. The guy shot an 83 his first round out. There have to be literally thousands of potential college athletes without a spot that could out perform him. He’s there because of who he is. 

[Hobert]

http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=player&tid=24592

He was not good in his first time out, but he was also not last in the tournament with 2 golfers from Lasalle finishing worse. Without knowing his typical scores/handicap, I don't know that we know one way or another whether this tournament was truly representative of his skill or whether he actually displaced a better golfer. Even looking at this tournament in a vacuum, he apparently deserves a spot on Lasalle's squad. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Hobert

[RickyBobby_PR]

39 minutes ago, CRW said:

No, I don’t think the coach would have put a better player in that spot. The guy shot an 83 his first round out. There have to be literally thousands of potential college athletes without a spot that could out perform him. He’s there because of who he is. 

He’s the fifth player on a team at a smallish university. It’s also a historical black college. The number of golfers that would be looking to be a number 5 at that school is probable in the low hundreds of that.

What coach is going to put a bad golfer in a team over a good one? 

[Berg Ryman]

I mean, here's my take on it.

NC A&T's golf program has been around since fall of 2017, making it one of the newer programs in the country. NC A&T is a HBCU. NC A&T has some international players along with JR and his teams for a roster of 6, all of whom are playing for this team in this tournament at Elon.

As far as I see, using JR Smith's celebrity to raise the profile of a new team in the NCAA Space at a school that is an HBCU in a sport that admittedly has not always been the most friendly to minorities can only be a positive. Much in the same way Steph Curry went out and and basically sponsors Howard's golf team and the PGA Tour announcing that every HBCU team in the country would receive a 10K grant from the tour, this matters to people and it matters to people who have been part of marginalized communities and people who haven't come to golf the way the majority thought they might as part of the Tiger boom.

It's only a good thing that JR is playing, I hope he continues to get better this season and puts some solid golf in to at least allow his voice and name to elevate the stories of these teams around him.

[2puttbogey]

There MAY be a better player that he took the spot of, but the exposure is good for the game. There’s all this talk about the “athletes “ in the game now. Unfortunately most of the best athletes in the country don’t get exposed to golf, so maybe this will help with that, but probably not. 

[CRW]

14 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

He’s the fifth player on a team at a smallish university. It’s also a historical black college. The number of golfers that would be looking to be a number 5 at that school is probable in the low hundreds of that.

What coach is going to put a bad golfer in a team over a good one? 

One who is looking for the coverage.  I think @Berg Rymancovered the why better than I could have.  Like I said, I'm not opposed to him playing, but I think someone(s) are losing out because of it.  Maybe the coverage this brings to the school and their program will pay dividends for others in the long run, but to act like that's not what is going on is disingenuous at best.

[Hobert]

35 minutes ago, Berg Ryman said:

I mean, here's my take on it.

NC A&T's golf program has been around since fall of 2017, making it one of the newer programs in the country. NC A&T is a HBCU. NC A&T has some international players along with JR and his teams for a roster of 6, all of whom are playing for this team in this tournament at Elon.

As far as I see, using JR Smith's celebrity to raise the profile of a new team in the NCAA Space at a school that is an HBCU in a sport that admittedly has not always been the most friendly to minorities can only be a positive. Much in the same way Steph Curry went out and and basically sponsors Howard's golf team and the PGA Tour announcing that every HBCU team in the country would receive a 10K grant from the tour, this matters to people and it matters to people who have been part of marginalized communities and people who haven't come to golf the way the majority thought they might as part of the Tiger boom.

It's only a good thing that JR is playing, I hope he continues to get better this season and puts some solid golf in to at least allow his voice and name to elevate the stories of these teams around him.

Well said!

[Hobert]

33 minutes ago, CRW said:

One who is looking for the coverage.  I think @Berg Rymancovered the why better than I could have.  Like I said, I'm not opposed to him playing, but I think someone(s) are losing out because of it.  Maybe the coverage this brings to the school and their program will pay dividends for others in the long run, but to act like that's not what is going on is disingenuous at best.

I still have a hard time coming to a conclusion one way or another with respect to J.R. displacing other players from the NC A&T team with this one tournament as our only data point... Two of the other four NC A&T golfers only beat him by 3 and 5 strokes respectively. It could have simply been an off weekend for him. We shall see.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Hobert

[Berg Ryman]

11 minutes ago, Hobert said:

I still have a hard time coming to a conclusion one way or another with respect to J.R. displacing other players from the NC A&T team with this one tournament as our only data point... Two of the other four NC A&T golfers only beat him by 3 and 5 strokes respectively. It could have simply been an off weekend for him. We shall see.

And again, it's worth noting the team only has 6 players, it's not like they have a back-up roster of talent they can pull to like a Oklahoma State or really any d1 team. This is a team in its infancy. If there were other options I'm sure the coach probably exhausted them.

[PMookie]

All I know is that JR is getting hit up by everyone who is underage to buy them beer! Most popular guy on the team!

[RickyBobby_PR]

If it’s done to get eyes on the program it failed in its first attempt based on the article. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

This didn’t help the scoring at all
 

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/32389408/ex-nba-star-jr-smith-stung-hornets-high-scores-first-collegiate-golf-tournament

[Chip Strokes]

from the article:

“Smith had the sixth-best score out of six players on his team. The Aggies finished 11th in the 13-team field, 57 shots off the pace set by tournament champion Elon.”

that’s a very long winded way of saying he had the worst score. 

[Hobert]

13 hours ago, Chip Strokes said:

from the article:

“Smith had the sixth-best score out of six players on his team. The Aggies finished 11th in the 13-team field, 57 shots off the pace set by tournament champion Elon.”

that’s a very long winded way of saying he had the worst score. 

Essentially, yes. But he did manage to beat two Lasalle golfers...

[Hobert]

J.R. also managed to accidentally step on a hornet's nest and get himself stung a few times during his final round. Not a great weekend for sure.

[tchat07]

Let's put it this way when is the last time ESPN covered a story about a kid finishing 81st in a tournament. I have no problem with JR deciding to do this and getting an opportunity, I just am personally not a fan of the overhyping of it.

[Tobias_Hoyt]

On 10/12/2021 at 9:44 PM, Berg Ryman said:

I mean, here's my take on it.

NC A&T's golf program has been around since fall of 2017, making it one of the newer programs in the country. NC A&T is a HBCU. NC A&T has some international players along with JR and his teams for a roster of 6, all of whom are playing for this team in this tournament at Elon.

As far as I see, using JR Smith's celebrity to raise the profile of a new team in the NCAA Space at a school that is an HBCU in a sport that admittedly has not always been the most friendly to minorities can only be a positive. Much in the same way Steph Curry went out and and basically sponsors Howard's golf team and the PGA Tour announcing that every HBCU team in the country would receive a 10K grant from the tour, this matters to people and it matters to people who have been part of marginalized communities and people who haven't come to golf the way the majority thought they might as part of the Tiger boom.

It's only a good thing that JR is playing, I hope he continues to get better this season and puts some solid golf in to at least allow his voice and name to elevate the stories of these teams around him.

 

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great point