Steph Curry's "Underrated Golf Tour" makes debut at Cog Hill
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Steph Curry just showed he's one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but he also has a passion for golf. While Curry might not be one of the best golfers ever, he has helped start a new tour to help some potential future greats, and the first stop was this week at Cog Hill in Lemont.
Shyell Lowe, 16, from Oswego East is one of over 60 young girls and boys from all over the country teeing it up at Cog Hill this week for the inaugural stop on Steph Curry's new Underrated Golf Tour.
"I used to play basketball when I was in middle school. So I was like, 'ooh, Stephen Curry is doing this.' That's a good matchup of both the sports I like," she said. "I didn't even know stuff like this existed, so I think it's a really good opportunity for me and other people to play."
That really is the purpose of this new golf endeavor, to provide opportunities, especially for those underserved and underrepresented in the game of golf.
"Underrated pretty much is a byproduct of where he [Steph Curry] is from. He represents the underrated. Underrated started out as a basketball tour. The messaging of underrated is giving power and notoriety to the underdog," said Underrated Golf Tour ambassador Will Lowery. "The most important is to increase the participation numbers. You know, when you think about the game of golf at the introductory level, 17% of Black and Brown kids are at the representation, but when you get to the higher levels, collegiate golf, it's less than 2%. So what do we have to do to increase that competitive level of golf? And I think having a feeder system such as this can do just that."
Helping that cause, the tour covers all expenses for the golfers selected to play. This is the first of five stops on the tour this year; with trips to Phoenix, Tampa, Houston, and San Francisco on the horizon.
"I'm super excited, because I haven't been to a lot of the places; like Texas. So I'm really excited to go to Houston and Arizona and Tampa. And there's going to be college coaches everywhere, so it will be fun to have that kind of exposure to different places, and know that those places could be on my radar for universities," Lowe said.
Lowe wants to come out on this tour and have her own success, of course, but she also hopes others can be encouraged by what she's doing.
"Inspiring other Black people, or girls in general, and to show them that even though you might be a minority in a certain sport, or something like that, you can still rise to the top and become the greatest," she said.
Count Lowery among those amazed at how much these young golfers, like Lowe, seem to already get what it takes to succeed.
"Amazing is not the word. It's another name for it. I can't describe it, but these kids, I'm learning so much already just from their competitiveness, the drive. I just love the fact, what they're doing; they already get the 'it' portion of it," Lowery said.
So what's Lowe's ultimate goal with golf?
"I think my ultimate goal would be to become pro or go to a top university school, and just be able to explore and travel and meet new people and make new connections," she said. "I think this will help a lot."
The event at Cog Hill wrapped up on Thursday.