From NBA Champ to PGA Champ?
When I’m done with basketball, I’m going to reasonably invest as much into my golf as I can. – Steph Curry
Golden State Warriors icon, Steph Curry, has been making NBA news since 2009, amassing four world championship titles, two MVP Awards, and 10 All-Star selections. But when he’s ready to hang up his jersey he could very well join the PGA Tour because he’s proven to be a force on the course.
Shifting Gears
Steph Curry’s stats speak for themselves and he’ll be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he decides to call it a career. But when one chapter ends, another begins when you’ve been blessed by hitting the genetic jackpot. Steph Curry is contemplating life as a professional golfer after his days as a Warrior are over, and don’t think for a moment I can’t relate.
Just last week I leaned back deep into my chair, eyed my target, and put a little arc on my shot as the crumpled paper left my hand and landed gently in the middle of the trash can, six maybe even seven feet away. There was no one in my office to witness it but when I tell you it was poetry in motion I do not lie. I followed that up by visiting my local municipal golf course and shot a solid 51 for nine, taking only two mulligans and giving myself a preferred lie on three, perhaps four occasions.
Those are my most recent athletic accomplishments so it’s fair to say the only thing I, or virtually anyone else for that matter, have in common with Steph Curry is that we inhabit the same planet. Although, I was once in the same gym with him … and the rest of his teammates…in Boston…along with 20,000 other screaming lunatics. That’s as close as I’ve gotten to greatness.
He’s That Good
Curry won the American Century Championship last year and is nearly a scratch golfer even without being able to devote all his energies to the sport. When asked how serious he was about turning pro on the senior tour once his basketball days are done, Curry said:
“I don’t know what the path is. All I know is when I’m done with basketball, I’m going to reasonably invest as much into my golf as I can to see how good I can get, and where that puts me 14 years from now, we’ll see.”
One guy who knows a good golfer when he sees one is Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open champion, Jordan Spieth, who’s seen Curry grip it and rip it.
“He’d be one of the longest right away on the Champions tour,” Spieth told Golf Digest.
“He’d rip up par 5s, so it’d come down to how tight can he get his game from 150 yards and in because you can’t miss on both sides of the flag out there.
“Obviously, he has the clutch gene, but what impresses me most is his joy. As long as he’s been playing basketball, it’s never seemed like work to him.”
Seriously, how good must it feel to be a 36-year-old dude whose net worth is somewhere around $160 million and who has more tools than a Swiss Army knife in his athletic arsenal? When I see Steph, I’ll let you know.