Scott Ostler: Curry shows he’s no joke in opening round.
Stephen Curry, channeling his inner Carl Spackler, teed off Thursday morning with great swagger and bravado and hit a hole-in-one. First shot! In the cup! Or at least the cup holder.
Curry’s first tee shot on his maiden voyage in a professional golf tournament was yanked left, it caromed off a weedy hillside, bounced back toward the cart path, into a cart, and into a cup holder.
If Curry had had his wits about him, he would have had someone drive the cart next to the green, where he could take his free drop.
Rookie mistake. Other than that, Curry’s first round of real golf was a roaring success. He shot a 4-over-par 74 on the challenging TPC Stonebrae course. Our Little Steph hung with the big boys. Bad news for the Warriors. One more good day out here, even if Curry misses the cut after Friday’s round, and the Warriors are going to have to drag him off the golf course when training camp opens.
Make no mistake: For Curry, playing the Web.com Tour event — the pro golf equivalent of triple-A baseball — was no lark. He’s realistic, he knows he can’t really compete with full-time pro golfers, but Curry does not lack for quiet confidence. He’s closer to these guys than logic would dictate, and he’s got something to prove.
So there was tension all around Thursday. On
the practice range before the morning rounds, I could see a thought balloon over the head of every golfer: “Beat Curry.”
For 155 golfers, their honor and dignity was at stake.
For Curry, there was something to prove, and a huge opportunity for embarrassment and disappointment. Curry was thrilled when he got his invitation, during the NBA Finals, but between that gee-whiz moment and his tee-off Thursday, there must have been an “Oh, fig!” moment, when the thrill of being invited to a real pro tourney collided with the reality of putting your part-time game up against guys who grind it 365.
The weather was supposed to be warm, but for Curry, it wasn’t the heat, it was the potential humility.
“I think he felt a little bit of nerves in his practice round Tuesday,” said Curry’s caddie, Jonny West, the Warriors’ director of player programs. “But I think the realness of everything really set in today. He said he got pretty nervous once they called
his name (at the first-tee intros). But he handled everything pretty well. We talked about it (nerves) going up the first couple of fairways, but after that he was pretty settled in.”
Until you actually put your game on the line, you’re just Carl Spackler, Bill Murray’s character in “Caddyshack,” hacking at
the gardenias. Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now about to become the Masters’ champion.
On the practice range, Curry was Curry. Something funny happened and he fell into a giggling fit with Stephan Jaeger, this tournament’s defending champion and one of Curry’s playing partners the first two days.
Everyone else on the range was quiet and dead serious, but Curry was yukking it up. At that point, is seemed unlikely he would choke like a dog. Sure enough, he fought back the nerves and came through.
A little stat: On the Web.com Tour, Curry is the 24th nonpro invitee to compete. The previous 23 did not make the cut, and averaged 79.4. The Las Vegas over-under for Curry on any single round in this tourney was 79.5.
“He shot 4-over-par on a Tour-shape course,” said Jaeger. “Hell, that’s pretty good to me.”
Jaeger added, “You know what? I was really impressed with his short game. He’s got a really good touch around the greens. His speed is really good around the greens, which is where most amateurs aren’t as good as the pros. I tell you what, he was hitting really good chips.”
I asked Jaeger if he felt he got the short end of the stick, having to deal with the distraction of the large pro-Curry gallery and all the attention.
“I got to play with the MVP,” Jaeger said. “I got the good end of the stick.”
Jeager said, “He’s as calm on the golf course as he is on the court. Even keel, I was very impressed.”
That’s one round. Friday Curry can back up his debut with another solid round, or fall back to reality.
Right now he’s staking his claim as one of the finest dilettante golfers in the world, which would add to his athletic mystique.
Curry’s not looking for total consciousness, like Carl Spackler. He’ll settle for some solid respect.