DALY CITY, Calif. — Bobby Bonilla is chilling. The baseball legend is in a golf cart, playing his background role to perfection on this mid-August afternoon at Lake Merced Golf Club. To his left, his good friend Barry Bonds chats away with a sports writer from his playing days. Bonilla, in sunglasses and a black T-shirt covering his rotund belly, leans right in lieu of a recline. One hand on the steering wheel of the cart as he puffs on a cigar behind the buzz of the festivities. He knows no one is here to see him or his superstar friend. “Look at this,” he says, lifting his stogie-free...
The baseball legend is in a golf cart, playing his background role to perfection on this mid-August afternoon at Lake Merced Golf Club. To his left, his good friend Barry Bonds chats away with a sports writer from his playing days. Bonilla, in sunglasses and a black T-shirt covering his rotund belly, leans right in lieu of a recline. One hand on the steering wheel of the cart as he puffs on a cigar behind the buzz of the festivities. He knows no one is here to see him or his superstar friend.
He doesn’t respond verbally to a question about his fatigue levels. Just suddenly lifts his eyes, while barely lifting his head, and shoots a glance that declares, “You have no idea.” He spins one of his phones around until it settles beneath his hovering eyes. Moments later, he is summoned again. Curry shoots another glance, this one with a smile.
Golf presents a second act that maybe even basketball doesn’t. After his unsuccessful attempts at turning Under Armour into a basketball power, especially in the sneaker world, Curry and his signature brand may have found a way to change the game in a different wing of the sports industry. “Where a lot of kids get left behind, especially in Black and Brown communities, is within that junior competitive space,” Curry said. “You have PGA Junior League, which is part of the PGA of America. You have First Tee all around the country. So kids are getting introduced to the game and they’re trying to meet them where they are in different communities. But then where do they go from there? There just hasn’t been much investment in that space.
“My personality is something that I think is different from most golfers,” she says, fiddling with her necklace. “I’m definitely a much livelier person. A lot of the really good golfers, they’re often kind of dull. Not smiling, or doing anything. I’m just a happy person.” “She’s got a game on her,” said Stackhouse, ranked No. 500 in the Rolex World Rankings, with a 23rd-place finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati earlier this month.“She’s got distance to be so young. … This is what it’s about, getting young players like Ashley who are really good and just need a little bit more support and a little bit more opportunity.”
“Man, those kids were loving this,” Stackhouse said. “They were happy. There was so much camaraderie. I was just beaming with pride at what I was seeing and happiness for what they were experiencing. These are the kinds of steps that actually make change.” “I’m not a golfer,” said Paul Knopp, CEO of KPMG. “But I have noticed over my 40 years in my career that it is sort of the sport of business. That’s the one that everybody seems to play.”
KJ, 19, was the baller. Let his little brother tell it, KJ is the closest thing in Utah hoops to Kyrie Irving.But Toa picked up golf as an adolescent and got pretty good at it. That’s when Finau came into the picture, once Toa got hooked. KJ followed little bro to golf and was a natural. At 13, he gave up AAU basketball and focused on golf.
“Golf is more than just a White sport,” says KJ, who won the second leg of the Underrated Golf Tour, at Firestone Country Club in Akron. “It’s more diverse. And we’ve got some athletes, right? That’s where the game changes. We’re bringing athletes to the game. We’re doing a lot of things better. Why not us?”“That’s why it’s important to be different,” KJ continues. “It’s just good energy and good mojo.