Warriors star Stephen Curry tops leaderboard on Day 1 of Tahoe celebrity golf tournament

Stephen Curry got off to a promising start Friday, birdying the second and third holes to open the American Century Championship at Edgewood in South Lake Tahoe. But his tee shot on hole No. 4 was sprayed right — so far right it appeared it might have gone out of bounds.

Curry and his caddie located the ball, sitting up in the tall grass with an angle to the green on the picturesque 536-yard par-5 on the northernmost edge of the course. Curry had a good lie and decided to be aggressive with more than 200 yards needed to clear the bunkers for a chance at an eagle putt.

“I was playing aggressive all day,” Curry said afterwards. “I knew where the issues were.”

Curry aimed left of the hole, but the shot was aligned directly with the flag. The ball landed roughly 10 feet from the pin, setting up a straightforward eagle putt, which he drained. He went on to shoot 69 for the day, scoring 27 Stableford points to take the first-round lead after finishing 16th in the event last year.

“Probably one of the better rounds I’ve played, ever,” Curry said.

Curry enters the weekend with a four-point lead over former San Jose Sharks captain and current Dallas Stars center Joe Pavelski. Curry would be just the second current or former basketball player to win the tournament if he can hold his lead through Sunday. Former NBA player and head coach Vinny Del Negro won in 2021.

Offseason golf routine

Curry, who played Friday with his father, Dell, and brother, Seth, has worked with a professional golf coach for the last two years for the first time in his life, he said. And with the Golden State Warriors going down in the second round of the playoffs, he’s had more time to work on his golf game than he did when he reached the NBA Finals five consecutive years while playing deep into June from 2015 to 2019.

Curry practices at the range or plays on the course about three days a week in the offseason. Leading into the tournament, Curry and his coach, Alex Riggs, worked on making adjustments to his grip and posture to help eliminate two-way misses. That has allowed Curry to be more consistent, which helped him play aggressively on Friday and potentially into the weekend. Riggs is based out of Dubai but traveled to California to work with Curry in person the past two summers.

“It’s fascinating because I’ve been playing golf since I was 10,” Curry said. “And I’ve never really understood how to learn fundamentals and new techniques and, No. 1, having the time to learn how to get better at the game. Because I felt like I was the same golfer for like 10 years. But I’ve had a little bit of a window to get into coaching, which I never had until last summer.

“All it is is just kind of like how I approach basketball,” Curry continued. “Put little blocks on top of each other and eventually you find a pattern that you’re comfortable with and like two simple swing thoughts that you’re comfortable with — that you can go out into a tournament-like environment and trust that the ball’s going to go where you want it to go.”

Along with his more regular work with Riggs, Curry also recently got advice from renowned tour coach Butch Harmon, who has worked with major winners Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and others. So far, the coaching appears to be working.

Best putt he’s ever made

Curry had birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 12 and the downhill par-5 headed toward the party scene on the lake.

His putt on 12 might have been his shot of the day, save for the approach on No. 4 leading to the eagle. It was a roughly 40-footer that required lining up dramatically to the right to account for the break down the hill toward the front of the green. He was trying to hit a lag putt for a tap-in par and walked after it to see which way the par putt would break coming back up the hill.

But it went in for birdie, continuing his memorable round.

“That’s probably the best putt I’ve ever made in my life,” Curry said.

He even tried to turn around before it went in the hole, like he often does when hitting a 3-pointer for the Warriors, knowing the ball is going to swish through the net after it leaves his hand.

“I tried my best to do my basketball impersonation and turn around before it went in,” he said. “It was fun.”

Curry was asked which was his shot of the day, the approach from the long grass leading to the eagle or the big breaking putt on 12.

“It’s hard to choose,” he said. “The shot on 4, you get an eagle that early in the round, it’s going to give the ultimate confidence and juice. The putt on 12 was probably more fun because you don’t really expect to make it, you’re just trying to get it down there somewhere close to try to get a two-putt. And then halfway when it was going into the hill, ‘Oh, it’s good!’”