Steph Curry adds another trophy, courtesy of his golf game
Steph Curry has won four NBA championships, two NBA MVP awards, two NBA three-point contests, the NBA Sportsmanship award and two FIBA World Cup gold medals, to name just a few of his accomplishments.
Incredible, yes, but one could make the case he's a one-trick pony when it comes to accolades, since all those trophies came on the basketball court.
But after Steph's incredible walk-off victory at the American Century Celebrity Championship in Lake Tahoe on Sunday, you can put that notion to bed. Not only is Curry one of the best hoopsters we've ever seen, but he has impressive golf chops as well.
With the title on the line on the tournament's 54th and final hole, the Warriors star had to make a long eagle putt to win. Due to the Modified Stableford scoring system the tournament uses, eagles are worth six points and birdies are worth three. Curry found himself trailing former tennis pro Mardy Fish by four, so the putt was essentially of the do-or-die variety.
Here was the scene at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course:
For all the heroics Curry has achieved on the court, buzzer-beaters actually haven't been one of his fortes. In fact, it took him 13 years in his stories NBA career to hit a walk-off shot, finally breaking through with a last-second bucket to beat the Houston Rockets in January 2022.
So hitting that walk-off putt was a big deal to him, if that celebration didn't make that clear.
Steph takes his golf seriously and he wanted this win in the worst way. You could hear it in his voice afterwards when talking about what it meant to him to come out on top.
It was Curry's first American Century win in 10 tries and it also marked the first time an active athlete had won it since 2000, when NFL kicker Al Del Greco lifted the trophy. Every winning athlete since then has been retired from pro ball, regardless of what sport they played. There have been winners from the entertainment world sprinkled in as well.
Somehow, Curry's winning putt Sunday wasn't even the highlight of this year's tournament. In case you missed it, Steph nailed a hole-in-one on the seventh hole during Saturday's round, one that was crucial in helping him win the title.
Following Curry and Fish, you had current Dallas Stars winger Joe Pavelski coming in third, two-time MLB All Star (and three-time ACC champ) Mark Mulder in fourth and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers in fifth.
For Rodgers, it was his first top-five finish at the ACC. He nailed four birdies in his final nine holes to make the leaderboard.
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