THE MODERATOR: We have our second contenders press conference of the day. Joining us Mark Mulder, three-time champion; in the center, Steph Curry, 2023 and co-defending champion since we missed him last year; and the great Joe Pavelski.
Let's talk first with the co-defending champions. Steph back in Tahoe after a great, great Paris. What a thrill that was for everybody. Had to have been for you, too. Welcome back to Tahoe.
STEPH CURRY: Thank you very much. It's great to be back. American Century has always done an amazing job putting on a great tournament, a great vibe. The energy out here is ridiculous. I missed it last year. Happy to be back.
A lot of great players, like we all know. Come tomorrow, just having fun, enjoying the experience. And the course is great. I don't know about my game. We'll find out and keep it moving.
Q. Mark, three-time champion, the only guy here that's won it three years in a row. What's it feel like to be back now?
MARK MULDER: It's great to be back. It's been quite a few years, though. That's the problem. I've got to try and change that up a little bit.
Everything changes tomorrow. It really doesn't matter how a lot of us played yesterday, today -- tomorrow when the lights go on you've got to show up and you've got to make some birdies.
With the Stableford, we saw with him two years ago, it's just points. Sometimes the score isn't as important. Nine birdies, nine bogeys is 27 points. Eighteen pars is 18 points. Same score, but you've got to keep accumulate.
Q. Steph, you had four eagles in your victorious 2024 title run, I think it's the most in a single tournament here. Three of them were for eight points and one of them was for 10. Do you want to talk about that one for 10?
STEPH CURRY: I think it was 6 and 8. But just the idea of, like Mark said, you've got to have some fireworks going. You can't really get too down on a bad hole, but you've got to be aggressive.
For me to have -- obviously the hole-in-one was crazy. That was an unreal moment running down the seventh hole. Thankfully I didn't hurt myself.
Eagles, birdies, like you've got to go low. You've got to attack some flags. You've got to make some putts. It's the best version of golf because you can be aggressive. You feel like you're always in it. That's the fun part.
Q. Joe, you've been in the hunt in this thing a couple times now. Now that you're retired, putting in a little bit more time on the golf course. You're one of the favorites of this event. How are you looking at it? You won down in Florida back in January at the LPGA Tournament of Champions, in the celebrity component of it. How do you think about your chances this time around?
JOE PAVELSKI: I like them. I think other years I've come in, I've had expectations to be challenging and always come up a little short.
Getting the win down in Florida was awesome. Definitely a confidence boost there. Getting over the hump knowing that you can beat these guys out here. I've watched Mulder win three in a row. I had a great view of Steph making a hole-in-one. A little too fast for me going down the fairway. Wasn't going the whole distance. Mardy has been Mardy lately. He kind of came from behind on me the couple weeks back in Portland.
You know these guys have firepower. For me having the whole year off, I've definitely played more. Living closer to golf courses now and playing every other day, trying to grab the club daily, getting more practice.
It's funny, you think your game should be better. Sometimes it is and sometimes it's not. It's a game. It's the same thing with what Mulder said, all right, you get out there, gotta make some putts. You're gonna have some looks. If you hit it in the fairways, you're going to have good looks. And gotta cash in on a few.
Q. You all get along really well, and the other guys too with Mardy. There's been a lot of talk this year, Steph and Mardy have been awful nice to each other, very polite. I guess that changes tomorrow.
STEPH CURRY: I'll be all smiles. But he's been Facetiming me every other day for the last six weeks.
MARK MULDER: I was with Mardy playing in a par-3 tournament in Arizona. All of a sudden we're walking down the fairway and we're talking to him. I'm, like, what is happening right now.
STEPH CURRY: He's always on a golf course. The camaraderie amongst all of us who have been here like over a decade, and you understand the experience. You want to have fun. It's great to see everybody because we all live all over the place, and you can bank on it to rekindle friendships.
But we all know how to be competitive for sure. You tap into that pretty quickly.
Q. Steph, we saw a little video of you kind of making fun, I guess, of LeBron?
STEPH CURRY: Rookie hazing. He got his first few swings out there. I talked to him last week, and he told me how much fun he had.
There's something to work with with that swing, though. That's kind of what I was going for. He's got good bones and good kind of foundation, that if he spends a little bit of time, probably gets a little bit of coaching, however much longer he's playing on the court, he's got potential for sure. I'm excited to see it.
Q. Him being 6'7", don't see a whole lot of golfers that tall. Do you think he could play out here, maybe even be a competitor?
STEPH CURRY: Out here? I mean, Charles plays. So probably.
(Laughter)
Q. Can you clue us in on what might be the family bet this year? Your brother's game is apparently much better.
STEPH CURRY: He's more obsessed with the game than I am at this point, which is awesome to see. We have a little family dinner tonight. We'll settle up the strokes and make sure the points for the Stableford are right, so that if you win you've got to earn it. There will be a lot of, I'm sure, back and forth, begging and pleading at dinner tonight. We'll see where we end up.
Q. Joe, now that you're retired, the teeth look great?
JOE PAVELSKI: Most of the time.
Q. Steph, as a fellow Bay Area icon yourself, what's it like seeing other Bay Area athletes like George Kittle, Kyle Juszczyk and Jerry Rice out there in the tournament?
STEPH CURRY: It's great. We have a great fan base. We're a relatively short drive from the Bay, and a lot of fans come up. To have the names you listed -- Kittle, this is his first time; Zach LaVine is up there in Sacramento. A lot of guys in this area that are in their respective sports doing an amazing job representing all of the Bay and Northern California.
Putting on a show for the fans is a big part of this and just having as much fun as possible.
Q. Out of Kittle, Kyle Juszczyk and Jerry Rice, who do you think has the best golf game?
STEPH CURRY: I actually can't answer that question. I haven't seen Juszczyk's and Kittle's game. I've seen Jerry for a long time. I'm sure they have their own little trash talk going.
Q. Mark, you had some great scores, an 82 when you won the first year, which up until last year was the second-best score to win the tournament in Stableford. Mardy snuck in with an 83 last year. Your game fell off. How do you feel now about playing?
MARK MULDER: I'm getting older. I know where I used to hit it on some of these holes. I don't hit it there anymore. It doesn't mean it's not straight. The course doesn't play long. It's not like it's that big of a deal.
But those years, when I won it, I just had a lot more birdie chances and I putted better. Like they said, it's a putting contest. All of us can all hit it pretty good. This course doesn't play very long. If you're putting the ball in the fairway, you're going to have a ton of birdie chances. It's just who is going to make more of them.
I know a few years ago when I fell apart on the back nine, I should have won that year, to be honest. Then I lost in the playoff. That was with Joe. But it's the way it goes.
We're not pros. So this game is incredibly difficult. And I'm very aware of that.
Q. That's why I don't play.
MARK MULDER: So I just try to enjoy it out there, man. My son's on the bag. I'm here to have fun and go compete.
Q. One of the little kids who used to floss on 17?
MARK MULDER: They're not little anymore.
Q. Steph, you had a 75 when you won a couple of years ago. That was the highest you ever participated in with the score. Mardy had 83 last year. How can you beat that?
STEPH CURRY: Well, I think it's more so about just not losing it on the first day. I know that's not really positive thinking. But you can't win it on the first day but you can definitely lose it.
Just trying to stay in contention. It doesn't matter if you have the lead or you just kind of want to be around the top of the leaderboard after day one just to kind of settle in and see where you're at.
It's funny, you can't predict what the winning score is. The greens are fast. You don't know if the wind is going blow, all that type of stuff. Try not to get too ahead of yourself. I'm just trying to hit the first fairway tomorrow.
Q. Joe, you were in third place two years ago, second place last year. You're due to move up to number one, now that you're retired and have all this time on the golf course?
JOE PAVELSKI: Hope it's the year. Obviously the year Steph won it was the first year an active athlete won in a long time.
So hopefully first year out playing, a little bit more time to practice and play, hopefully it all comes together. You want that chance at the end on Sunday.
Q. As an aside, Steph, your best years of scoring were when you got knocked out of the playoffs a little too soon and had a little more practice time. All three of you are ready to shine here and come in and be back on the podium tomorrow and Saturday and Sunday.
STEPH CURRY: We need you on the driving range to give us a pep talk tomorrow. You're really boosting our confidence right now. I absolutely love this. Can I borrow that note card after you're done?
Q. Steph, this question's for you. When you discussed your post-NBA career plans, you said you may golf, get into broadcasting or become an owner. How long do you sort of envision playing basketball for, professionally?
STEPH CURRY: I don't know. I'm just taking it two years at a time. That's all I have on my contract left. I hope to be in a situation where physically I have the choice and it's not made for me. I'm doing everything I can to stay limber, stay active and do what I do at a high level.
So, yeah, just trying to stay in the moment and see what happens in two years.
Q. There have been rumors that the Warriors are on the forefront for adding Al Horford. What would adding Al mean for this team?
STEPH CURRY: He's a champion, a great player. If, when, all that stuff happens, I'll talk about it.
Q. I think one of the greatest things about this tournament is it brings folks from all walks of life together and it really shows that golf has grown into so many different places and welcomes so many different people. But the topic out there really is about growing the game. I know there's a big community of people that are maybe intimidated to get in, get out there, try to hit some balls, book a tee time. I'd be curious to know if you guys have anything to share to some folks that are maybe considering dabbling in some golf, some words of encouragement that maybe they might be welcomed if they didn't think so.
STEPH CURRY: I just say do it. Jump in. You have to be okay with being bad for a while. It's kind of an egoless journey of trying to get marginally better, hitting it on the face a little more consistently. Just get out there and get the feeling of what a good shot feels like and keep on that search.
It's one of the few things -- Joe mentioned it -- where you can't necessarily work harder and automatically get better. It's just a test of patience.
To your point about being intimidated, just jump in. I guess is the best way to figure it out.
JOE PAVELSKI: I think it's hard not to get mad sometimes. We play and practice quite a bit, but it's nowhere enough. Like the professionals that do it every day, they can get a little bit more fired up over it. I don't think it's worth it for us because we haven't really put the time in to really know what we're doing at times.
MARK MULDER: If you're a beginner, just go to a range. Start hitting balls. There is nothing better than going to play golf with four of you, with three buddies.
It doesn't matter if you suck. It doesn't matter. Go have fun. Just don't play slow. Move on. Pick the ball up, throw it out in the fairway, go hit it again.
But when you've got people who top a ball and walk all the way back to their cart to get a different club when you're not that good of a golfer, it doesn't matter. Just hit the same club. Just hit it, move on, go enjoy yourself.
Q. Curious, as professional athletes, if there's any part of the game that you went professional in that shows up in your golf swing when you're out on the course. Did you have the same feels or thoughts or anything like that?
JOE PAVELSKI: I think a big part of it is mental. If I'm playing good, I'm like, all right, the game's here, commit to the shot, go hit another good one.
Get to a new hole and don't worry about the hole in front of you. Just hit this shot and go from there. I think the mental side of it's pretty important. Otherwise, just the little details of the game, alignment, trying to dial those in when you can and figure it out.
When you get on the course, you get some different lies, some trees, just the different angles of wind, it's tough. You just try to put a good swing on it.
STEPH CURRY: I think out of my career, like 43 percent 3-point shooter. It might feel like I don't miss, but I do 57 percent of the time. What do you do on the next shot? That's how you tap into it.
If I miss a 3 and I get it back, I have the same or if not more confidence that the next one is going in. So if you miss a drive or miss a putt, whatever the case is, how quickly can you move on to the next shot.
You do it at the highest level at your professional sport, to Joe's point, expectation management, you should be able to do that out here.
MARK MULDER: It's having the short memory. If I gave up a homer, what good is it to get mad about it? It's done with. Get another ball from the ump and go make a pitch.
Same way on the golf course -- you hit a ball in the trees, it's an opportunity to go hit a good shot. Embrace it. Having that short memory helps.
Q. This is more a thank you, Steph, for founding, with the MGA Underrated program that you did this year and last year. Could you speak a little bit about that?
STEPH CURRY: The Underrated. Yeah, that's been such an unbelievable journey of giving back to grassroots level of sports. Started in basketball. We're big in golf now. Doing about five Underrated tour stops across the country. Two over in Europe.
So expanding across the pond, bringing some amazingly talented young men and women between 13 and 18 who are from either underprivileged or minority backgrounds and giving them equity access and opportunity to the game of golf.
For me, it's just getting clubs in people's hands early, but these kids are super talented and they deserve an opportunity to play at the highest level while also giving them the tools and resources and the skill sets to be their best self on and off the course.
We're seeing a lot of benefits so far and a lot of opportunity that's been created for these kids and we're super excited to give them and their families a first-class experience.
It's a passion project, and hopefully it will be around for a long time.
Q. The Muslim community want to thank you, MGA, Muslim Golf Association. Amir Malik said thank you very much, because a lot of people don't think Muslim golf, but we do.
Q. The celebrity golf tournament as a whole has become such a family event and tons of kids and families that make this a yearly trip. All three of you are dads, you all have kids. You kind of have seen your kids grow up, some of them at this tournament, like, Mark, with your kid on the bag. Talk for a second, each, maybe how being a father and having a kid affects how you're able to be an incredible athlete on the course but then when you put the club in the bag, being able to interact with the kids and the fans and make this such an incredible experience?
MARK MULDER: I think for me, my kids have grown up at this tournament. They were really little the first few years I was here.
It's some of the best family memories, the trip here every year. My kids were little, when I won it those three years. I've joked with you guys before, the year or two after I won, my daughter goes, "Where are we going?" I said, "We're going to the American Century." She goes, "Is that where we run out on the green at the end?" I said, "Well, I hope so." That hasn't happened in a while. I'm trying to give that back to them.
Being a dad, now that my oldest son plays golf, there's so many lessons to be learned. It's pretty incredible that I can share that with him.
My other two kids play a little bit. We play a lot in the summertime, but I just love every minute of it. This experience, being so fortunate to play in this tournament, have them around here. Pro-Am days, they hit shots out on the course. I used to bring their little clubs, put them in my bag, things like that so they could hit shots on 17.
Now they're all big enough, they just use my club. There's a lot of good family memories that have happened here at the American Century.
STEPH CURRY: It's all perspective. Cool memories for your kids, for you. For me, I'm a father and a son. My dad's here. My brother's here. So we're still creating those memories through golf and being able to share this week together.
When I won two years ago, my son got to come out. Running on the green experience was hilarious, first thing was "Did we win?" He had no idea what was going on. Yeah, we won and he did a fist bump. Then he forgot it about ten seconds later.
It's all just amazing to give them -- like even just the nature out here, just be outside, be around this type of energy, is special. Golf does that. Whoever said it, brings so many different people together. You see all the parents who are giving their kids experiences outside the ropes, that's what it's all about.
JOE PAVELSKI: That's one of the best descriptions you said with this tournament, is the family environment. Wednesday, this year, you're like, there's no way there was this many people last year. It's packed Thursdays even more. It just builds every year.
To be able to share that -- Nate, my son, it's his second year coming; he's 14 now -- the pro-ams, he's, like, I'm just itching to hit a shot; let me hit a shot. It's fun to be a part of.
We played as much golf as we have together this summer so far. He'll be following us around. It's great. The first time he was here, we were going playing with Steph and he's walking with the security guys inside the ropes and loving every part of it.
It's those experiences. So it's fun. We're going out on the boat after this wraps up here and have some more memories.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports