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Warriors guard Steph Curry joined Smylie Kaufman ahead of The Match to talk life, basketball, golf and even President Barack Obama.
Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry has been known during his professional basketball career as a money player. He is a four-time NBA Champion, an NBA Finals MVP and is considered the greatest shooter in the history of basketball.
But what many people don’t know about Curry is how great he is on the golf course. He is a near scratch golfer, which is insanely impressive for a pro of another sport.
Thursday night, Curry joined Warriors teammate Klay Thompson in The Match against the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
Prior to the eighth iteration of the charity event that has already raised over $35 million, Curry joined PGA Tour’s Smylie Kaufman on his podcast.
The future Hall of Fame point guard detailed how the NIL would have impacted his college status, the biggest shot of his career and confirmed Jordan Spieth actually asked President Obama if there were aliens during a round of golf.
But maybe most remarkable was the direct correlation Curry drew from the NBA to playing golf.
“Those quiet times on the bench, in between time outs or whether it is a dead ball, there’s a lot of inner dialogue going on. And when I get nervous on the golf course it is the same thing,” Curry said. “Whether it is in between shots or whether over the ball, when you are trying not to think of anything but you feel the moment, just positive self talk.”
He went so far as to draw from his most recent championship against the Boston Celtics last summer.
“I remember in the Finals last year there was just a lot of ‘Be great’ conversations to yourself and a lot of different ways that you talk about it and kind of get yourself going. That’s the biggest similarity for me… You have to kind of work on it.”
It was extremely interesting hearing one of the greatest basketball players ever talk about his internal dialogue and struggles.
It appears he has mastered that skill. Just ask Celtics fans who will likely never get over his Game 4 performance that turned that series, and eventual championship, around.
