Steph Curry now linked with Charlie Sifford

The great Jim Murray wrote of the barrier-breaking Charlie Sifford. “He stands as a social pioneer not because he could play politics, but because he could play golf.”

Steph Curry, as we know, can play basketball. And golf. 

And with his contributions to society and politics, if only in the most positive of ways. That Curry was given the Charlie Sifford Award by Southern Company for “Advancing Diversity in Golf,” surely would have pleased Sifford as much as it delighted Curry.

Yes, Steph still is on court, when needed. He was needed in a preseason game at Chase Center Wednesday night, hitting the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to give the Warriors a 116-115 win over Sacramento.

The beauty of sport is that skill and talent—and hard work—transcend ethnic backgrounds. Or is supposed to. But it wasn’t that way in golf, historically a game as white as the dimpled balls placed on the tee.

Sifford grew up in a still segregated Charlotte, N.C., learning golf as a caddy. He had a short backswing but fortunately not a short fuse, patiently accepting the insults, death threats and sometimes the terrible materials hurled at him.

Sifford, who died at 92 in 2015, survived long enough to win two PGA Tour events and to be chosen for the World Golf Hall of Fame. As does Jackie Robinson, he has a place in the heart of every African American athlete. No Charlie Sifford, perhaps no Tiger Woods.

Curry, who like Sifford grew up in North Carolina, was particularly moved to be the Sifford Award winner, “to be recognized in this sport I am so passionate about.” 

His success in golf—he not only won this year’s American Century event at Lake Tahoe but also had a hole-in-one the previous round—is hardly a surprise.

Basketball players, along with hockey players, have the hand-eye coordination demanded. Michael Jordan was so good he tried to go on tour, although as he discovered there’s a gap between a low-handicap amateur and a pro.

Individuals who after a high profile celebrity event which might get them stories on the internet, usually along with advice to keep their day job. Curry certainly will, so that, although his day job is at night, in the company of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.

Off the course and the court, Curry launched Underrated Golf in 2021, a purpose-driven endeavor with the “overarching commitment to provide equity access and opportunity to student-athletes from every community.”

At 37, Curry, his golf mostly confined until early summer next year, is astonished by the opportunity of one more NBA championship, adding to the four he has won since the season of 2015.

Not that his finances can’t be put to use at the same time, Curry is going to join the ownership group of the San Francisco team of the TGL, the virtual golf league developed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy

Curry and Klay Thompson will join billionaire businessman Marc Lasry, a former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks as investors. There will be six teams that will hold a competition on a virtual course in a custom-built arena in Florida. The league describes itself as “fusing advanced tech and live action.”

Charlie Sifford never would have believed it.