American Express: Danny Ainge is here, playing with Utah Jazz governor Ryan Smith in pro-am
Danny Ainge began coming to the Coachella Valley to hit the golf courses as far back as when he played in the NBA, in the 1980s and ‘90s. A couple times during the all-star break, he’d sneak out to the California desert to get away from the grind of the season and, of course, to work on his swing.
This week, Ainge is playing in the pro-am field at The American Express PGA Tour event in La Quinta. He played the Nicklaus Tournament course Thursday, paired with pro Matt Kuchar, and the Pete Dye Stadium Course on Friday, paired with Roger Sloan. On Saturday, Ainge will play with Zac Blair at La Quinta Country Club.
“We’re back and excited about the desert again,” Ainge said after coming off the course Friday.
Ainge, now an executive with the Utah Jazz, came to the Coachella Valley with Jazz governor Ryan Smith. Ainge said that Smith, who has been known to hit the links regularly with Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, who owns a share of the Jazz, invited him to play with him in the pro-am this week.
Also competing in the pro-am is MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who played in a foursome with Ainge on Friday.
Ainge and Smith are here as the Jazz have experienced a sudden rise in the NBA standings. They’ve won nine of their last 11. Though Ainge said that it’s too early to read too much into how the team has played, he smiled and politely pushed back against a spectator who shouted, “Go Lakers!”
“It’s OK,” Ainge said, smiling. “I think we’re going to catch them this year, the Jazz will.”
It didn’t seem to deter Ainge, who seemed to revel the chance to be back in La Quinta.
After he retired from playing basketball, in 1995, Ainge returned to La Quinta a few more times, he said. Most recently, he brought his entire family, including his adult children and grandchildren, out for Christmas and stayed at La Quinta Resort & Club. During that trip, Ainge played a few of the courses at PGA West as fate would have it.
Ainge said that he has also previously played The Madison Club and at Ladera Golf Club in Thermal.
The ESPN/Netflix documentary miniseries re-told a story about how in 1986 Ainge "took a little bit of money from" Michael Jordan on the golf course during a playoff series between the Celtics and Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Jordan responded by scoring 63 points against the Celtics the next day.
Decades later, Ainge is still swinging the clubs. Now 64, he still has a natural athleticism that translates well to the golf course. He can strike the ball easily down the middle of the fairway and his short game is not bad either. He drove the ball onto the green on the par-3 12th hole Thursday on the Nicklaus course with relative ease.
Ainge said that his handicap is a 6, but he wants to improve on that this year and that he'll be hitting the links as often as possible to do that.
“I’m hoping to get back to like 3 or 4,” Ainge said. “My game is a little rusty right now, but I’m trying to get there.”
Andrew John covers sports for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: American Express: Danny Ainge is tuning up his golf game in the pro-am
