- The University of Florida's Mark Bostick Golf Course hosted the first stop of Steph Curry's Underrated Golf Tour for junior golfers this week.
- The tour promotes inclusivity and life skills development while exposing middle and high school players to college coaches through tournaments across multiple states.
The University of Florida’s Mark Bostick Golf Course is playing host this week to the Underrated Golf Tour, serving as the inaugural stop on NBA great Steph Curry’s annual competition between junior golfers hailing from cities across the country.
Curry, though primarily known as a point guard for the Golden State Warriors, is an avid golfer and has operated Underrated since 2022 to ensure young student-athletes can access the sport regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicity or gender.
Tour participants are middle and high school students engaging in tournament-style competition. After playing 18 holes in Gainesville, they’ll travel this summer to courses in Scottsdale (Arizona), Galloway (New Jersey) and Los Angeles (California), with top overall competitors teeing off at the Curry Cup, a playoff in Farmingdale, New York, in September.
Underrated highlights up-and-coming golfers – no matter what “clubhouse” they hail from, said tour ambassador Will Lowery, a professional golfer and broadcaster.
“We give them a platform so they can perform, and they’ll be seen by college coaches,” he said. “But, more importantly, we just want to create another talent pool.”
Gainesville has not hosted the tour before, but the city landed on the Underrated competition committee’s radar after a committee member played a round with J.C. Deacon, head coach of the U.F. men’s golf team, Lowery said.
On June 29, Deacon and members of his coaching staff served on a panel of experts advising tour athletes and fielding their questions.
Deacon stressed the importance of exercising good character and integrity in tandem with honing athletic skills, said Ava Saavedra, a 17-year-old athlete from Puerto Rico who now lives in Winter Garden.
“I feel like that’s a big part of what it means to be good on the golf course,” said Saavedra, who has committed to playing golf for Flagler College in St. Augustine.
A key component of Underrated is developing rudimentary life skills that will benefit participants as they progress into adulthood and interact with peers and associates off and on the green. Over five years spent on the tour, 19-year-old Gabriel Holtz, a Brazilian native, has become less introverted.
“I think I’ve learned how to make friends,” said Holtz, a Boca Raton resident and future member of the Clemson University golf team. “I’m kind of shy, so I’m not the guy who will walk up to you and just start talking. But I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and just start a conversation.”
Lowery wagers it’s the positive social interactions and ongoing mentorships afforded by tour participation that will ultimately generate the most significant impacts in these young athletes’ lives.
“I don’t really care if these kids play golf professionally — I couldn’t care less,” he said. “But I really want them to have golf in their lives, so it can help them professionally.”
