NBA Star Stephen Curry Out To Make His Mark In Golf

By Rahul Banerji

Success in sport comes the hard way. It demands talent, of course, but also dedication, discipline and perseverance. Often, it also needs a healthy slice of luck to spark off a career breakthrough.

Only a handful manage to successfully transcend the boundaries of their chosen discipline. American pentathlon and decathlon gold medalist Olympian Jim Thorpe went on to have extended spells in basketball, baseball and professional football.

Mildred “Babe” Didrickson is a personal heroine. She was a double Olympic gold medalist at the 1932 Los Angeles Games. As a professional golfer, she was a World Golf Hall of famer, a two-time LPGA money winner in 1950 and 1951 and won 10 LPGA majors.

Think of a Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods taking to the track. The imagination stalls at the prospect of this ever happening.

Cricket too has thrown up a number of crossover stars down the years. Former England Test captain CB Fry played football and for a time held the men’s long jump world record. Dennis Compton played cricket and football for England.

Fielding superstar Jonty Rhodes of South Africa was also a hockey Olympian in the 1992 Games, while 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev now represents India in senior amateur golf. Former India football captain Chuni Goswami also led the Bengal Ranji Trophy team for years.

Now, NBA superstar Stephen Curry is hammering on the doors of professional golf. The Golden State Warriors All-Star guard returned to the Web.com Tour’s Ellie Mae Classic on Thursday with a 1-over 71 at TPC Stonebrae in California.

Playing alongside Web.com Tour winners Martin Trainer and Cameron Champ, Curry had an up and down round that also included three birdies that left him within touching distance of making the cut.

Curry made his Web.com Tour debut in 2017 and missed the cut by 11 shots. In the history of the Tour, only two former professional athletes competing have broken par in a round: Ralph Terry (71, at the 1990 Dakota Dunes Open) and Grant Fuhr (70, 2008 Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic).

“Out here every shot’s important, so definitely have respect for that and hopefully tomorrow I can come out and post a low number. And I’ll know the projected cut line after the round today, but should be close,” said Curry after the round.

Steady start

Across the United States, in St Louis, Missouri, Shubhankar “Iceman” Sharma returned his under-par card at a major, shooting a 1-under 69 at the 100^th edition of the PGA Championship. Senior Indian pro Anirban Lahiri was a shot back on level par alongside Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy.

Playing his fourth straight major this season, Shubhankar hit three birdies and had two bogeys while Anirban had a roller-coaster day with five birdies against as many dropped shots at the Bellerive Country Club.

Gary Woodland led the way with a six-under card while world number one Dustin Johnson trailed by two shots despite a run over six birdies in an eight-hole stretch.