Stephen Curry's walk-off eagle wins American Century Championship

Stephen Curry has displayed his golf chops on the Korn Ferry Tour, breaking 75 three times in four competitive rounds and garnering effusive praise from his playing partners.

Curry’s weekend at the American Century Championship, which included a hole-in-one Saturday, will add another section to his golf resume.

The Golden State Warriors guard became the first active professional athlete to win the American Century Championship since 2000, accruing 75 points in the Modified Stableford format for a two-point victory over longtime tennis pro Mardy Fish.

Curry entered the final round with 50 points, three clear of Fish and Dallas Stars hockey pro Joe Pavelski, and the nine-time NBA All-Star racked up 25 points in Sunday’s final round, punctuated with a walk-off winning eagle on the final hole.

As the winning putt neared the hole – a slippery downhiller – Curry dropped his putter and turned back. The crowd’s roar informed him that the putt indeed dropped; he threw his hat to the sky and gleefully ran around the green with the pure glee of a schoolkid hitting a winning three-pointer in a pickup game. He made a beeline for his wife Ayesha, then continued to pump his fists as he returned to the green to shake hands with his playing partners.

“I have more time to think about it in this scenario; on the court, it happens a lot faster,” Curry said after delivering an electric winning moment. “Being able to lock into the moment, knowing what the stakes were, accepting it. I’ve always dreamt of a situation like this on an 18th green, in front of a crowd like that, to make the putt. You just stick to the routine, have so much confidence in yourself, live with the results. Thankfully it went in, which is insane. I’ve been playing in this thing for almost a decade, and to know I finally got a win, it’s pretty special.”

It has been a golf-infused month for Curry, whose UNDERRATED Golf hosted an event at Firestone CC last weekend, shortly before this week’s Kaulig Companies Championship on PGA TOUR Champions. Curry has long committed to growing the game of golf at the grassroots level – UNDERRATED Golf strives to provide equity, access and opportunity to underserved golfers – and he also teamed up with Howard University in 2019 to provide full funding to the school’s men’s and women’s golf programs for six years. His generosity has extended to the TOUR level, as well; when then-Korn Ferry Tour pro Scott Harrington took a competitive leave in 2018 to support his wife Jenn in her cancer battle, Curry donated $25,000 in support.

Now he’s capturing some golf hardware as well, joining Mario Lemieux (1998) and Al Del Greco (2000) as active pro athletes to win the American Century Championship.

“My goal has always been to try to do it as an active NBA athlete,” Curry said earlier in the week.

Mission accomplished.