As is the case every year, the Seahawks had a few notables from the world of golf and elsewhere as guests at practice during the week of the Boeing Classic, and this year’s guest list included local golf legend Fred Couples, who will play in the tournament at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge this weekend, as well as new L.A. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
After practice ended, Couples and Ballmer, as well as Seahawks Steven Hauschka, Jermaine Kearse and Cooper Helfet had a closest-the-pin contest, hitting at floating green in Lake Washington that was about 90 yards away.
And in an upset, Ballmer beat the former Master’s champion in a playoff after each of them put two of three shots on the floating green in regulation, so to speak. Hauschka, who is a 5 handicap, was the only Seahawk to hit the target during the competition, putting one of three shots on the green.
Despite being a billionaire owner of an NBA team and the former CEO of Microsoft, Ballmer said he was “a little bit nervous” before taking his hacks.
Maybe it was those nerves that led to the most humorous moment of the afternoon, when after putting his first two shots on the green, Ballmer skulled his final shot and drilled a GoPro camera that was on the ground right in front of him filming the action.
“I felt good that I hit something,” he quipped.
Told that the going rate on a GoPro was $2 billion—the price he paid for the Clippers—Ballmer joked, “That’s the price of everything nowadays.”
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