Stephen Curry and LPGA golfer Mariah Stackhouse (left) present Róisín Scanlon with her girls’division first-place trophy during the Curry Cup season-ending junior golf tour event at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City on Tuesday.
Stephen Curry’s Underrated junior golf tour had just completed its second season Tuesday at Lake Merced. Mariah Stackhouse stood off to the side after the awards ceremony, trying to convey Curry’s impact on his second sport.
Stackhouse offered a relevant perspective for several reasons. She’s helping Curry as a tour ambassador, but also consider her journey: In a historically exclusionary game, not typically welcoming to African Americans, Stackhouse landed a scholarship to Stanford, earned All-America honors and ultimately reached the LPGA Tour.
She did that before Curry, a four-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, went out of his way to create more access to golf for young minorities. So Stackhouse, as much as anyone, understands the significance of Curry’s efforts.
“It’s tangible for them on the course,” Stackhouse said of the junior golfers who came to the Bay Area for this week’s Curry Cup. “But what we’re doing is also building them as athletes and young people, so I think this experience is enriching for them.