Las Vegas, Nevada (July 19, 2014)–NBA Coach Mike Woodson loves basketball, but golf may be his passion. Woodson, who recently joined the staff of the Los Angeles Clippers, is hosting The Coach Woodson Las Vegas Invitational, a luxury and lifestyle charity event to be played at Southern Highlands Golf Club with special events at Mandarin Oriental. Las Vegas luxury golf expert and former UNLV Women's Golfer Seema Sadekar is the hostess of the event. Also scheduled to appear is singing superstar Brian McNight and other celebrities and athletes. –By Brian Hurlburt.
“I think golf is more challenging than any sport that I have experienced and I have played sports all my life,” Woodson recently told this writer for an article published in Las Vegas Golf and Leisure Magazine. “Golf is a mental game as well as a physical game and it offers a tremendous challenge. One day you will be on top but the next day you can be at the bottom. But what I like most is the professionalism of it. Playing golf gives you an opportunity to meet people and to get to know them a lot better after four hours on the course. To me, it’s a connection game. It connects people. I believe it’s the most beautiful game going and I really believe that.”
The Coach Woodson Las Vegas Invitational takes place July 20-22, and will commence with a Sunday wine tasting and a private dinner. Monday will follow with the CIROC Celebrity Welcome Party at the alluring 23rd floor Mandarin Bar, with a live performance from vocal sensation Brian McKnight. The evening’s co-hosts are Sadekar and ESPN personality Jay Harris. They will introduce celebrity guests and announce golf tournament pairings. On Tuesday, participants will play 18 holes at the exquisite Southern Highlands Golf Club, a beautiful Pacific Links golf course.
Woodson has played golf for many years, and was one of the first NBA stars to take up the game. Woodson has a long playing career before becoming a head coach in the league, most recently with the New York Knicks. “There were only a few guys playing golf at that time, but we had to show up at golf tournaments in the summer to play and sign autographs,” remembers Woodson, a 15 handicap. “After a few summers golf became very intriguing to me. I liked what the sport offered and how it allowed you to meet and mingle with people. After two years of those summer tournaments, I wasplaying golf and started to hack around and take the game more seriously. Then some of my teammates and other players in the league started to hack around. Guys like Eddie Johnson, Mark Aguirre, Herb Williams and others were playing quite a bit.”
Sadekar is honored to be a part of the event. “I am so excited to be the co-hostess of this event in my sparkly city, the only city in the world where I would ever want to host an event like this,” says Sadekar, who was a golf star at UNLV from 2003-07. “What will set this event apart is our elegant hotel partner, the Mandarin Oriental, and our host course, Southern Highlands Golf Club, which I think is one of the best courses in the world. Plus Coach Woodson is an amazing person who is dedicated to helping the Nations of Coaches and its mission.”
The event benefits Nations of Coaches, a 501 C3 organization dedicated to bringing coaches together through guidance and knowledge. With shared experiences, challenges and stories of success, better coaches and players are created. The event is the golf place to be during the popular NBA Summer League which wraps up Monday, July 21.