There may be no bigger fan of golf in professional sports than the NBA’s Steph Curry. Which is why watching him celebrate a hole-in-one on Saturday in the American Century Championship will never, ever get old.
On NBC’s telecast of the biggest celebrity golf event there is, played each year at Lake Tahoe, Curry hit his tee shot with a pitching wedge at the 152-yard seventh hole at Edgewood and anchor Jimmy Roberts said in that moment, “It’s obvious he can play.” Curry posed like a tour player and on-course announcer Roger Maltbie said, “Boy, this is right at it if it gets there.”
It got there, all right, the ball hitting just a couple of feet past the pin and then spinning the short distance into the hole.
The crowd went nuts, and so did Curry, who took off on a joyful full spring down the fairway, chucking his hat and glove in the process. The caddies and other golfers in the group—NHL players Joe Pavelski and Alex Killorn—were hilariously slow in trying to keep up. Curry leaned at the “finish line” of the flagstick, swiping it with his hand.
“A lot longer than 90 feet,” an out-of-breath Curry said in a quick interview with NBC.
“I am so excited right now, that is crazy,” said Curry, who had one previous lifetime hole-in-one. “I’ll be out of breath for the rest of the day, but for good reason though.”
It’s been a good week for Golden State’s four-time NBA champion. In Friday’s first round, Curry made a 40-foot putt on his way to taking the first round lead in the event using a modified Stableford scoring system.
The hole-in-one wa worth eight points and Curry ended the day with 50 total points to be the leader heading into Sunday.