![\"Fletcher](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/adf147ed-6f9a-44ef-b3ba-682e70add8f8_1651097418.file.png\")
<\/a>NEW ORLEANS \u2014<\/p>\nFollowing a 16-year NBA career, two-time NBA Champion J.R. Smith decided to tackle another sport when he enrolled at North Carolina A&T and played for the men\u2019s golf team from 2021-26.<\/p>\n
The multi-sport phenom, who earned a bachelor’s degree from the HBCU in May, will take his golf game to a new level this week when he competes as an amateur at the inaugural Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Michael Eaves Classic & Celebrity Pro-Am Tuesday, July 28 \u2013 Wednesday, July 29 at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, Louisiana. <\/p>\n
Smith will tee off at 9:10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 28. <\/p>\n
Eaves, an ESPN SportsCenter\/golf anchor, seven-time Emmy Award winner and longtime APGA supporter serves as host of the inaugural 36-hole professional tournament with a 46-player field that will award an $8,000 prize to the winner from a $25,000 purse.<\/p>\n
The tournament\u2019s field also includes:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Luis Gagne: Louisiana State University (L.S.U.) product and three-time U.S. Open competitor<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Marcus Byrd: 2025 Jeff Dailey APGA Tour Player of the Year and 11-time APGA winner<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Chase Johnson: Two-Time APGA Tour Player of the Year<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Willie Mack III: APGA\u2019s winningest active player (19 APGA Tour titles).<\/p>\n
Founded in 2010, the Advocates Professional Golf Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring an inclusive future through the game of golf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former New Orleans NBA star to make debut on APGA Golf Tour this week at TPC Louisiana Following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[291374,295996,335448,355,335450,25283,335449,291372,99,291375,57812],"class_list":["post-788705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-demand-menu-subscribe","tag-email-weather-search","tag-former-new-orleans-nba-star-to-make-debut-on-apga-golf-tour-this-week-at-tpc-louisiana","tag-nba","tag-nowcast-wdsu-news","tag-page","tag-pm-watch","tag-privacy-notice-term","tag-sports","tag-use-nextfre","tag-wdsu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}