FacebookPinterestHarry HowJerry West, shown here in his past role as executive director of the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
When the object of the game is to put the ball in the hole, well, Jerry West is likely to excel at it. A Hall of Fame basketball player, West also was an exceptional golfer.
Time has eroded his golf skills, but he’s still exceptional for his age. He’ll turn 80 on Monday and it won’t be long until he shoots his age or better.
West has been doing so as recently as April, according to this note from Marc Stein, the estimable basketball writer for the New York Times and a former NBA reporter for ESPN. Stein wrote that West had rounds of 78 and 75 in April at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, Calif.
A member at Bel-Air CC in Los Angeles, West was playing Virginia CC because his home course is undergoing renovation. Following a hiatus from golf — he did not post a score at GHIN.com (Golf Handicap and Information Netw..