Stephen Curry’s Underrated Tour celebrates memorable season
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The NBA legend’s vision to truly grow the game of golf continues through his Underrated Tour.
Rewind back to the stormy waters of 2022, and a new golf tour has just been launched. One of its objectives is to grow the game. Its founder – a sporting icon and visionary with big plans – is determined to take golf to new corners of the world and provide more opportunities for the next generation of stars. Not Greg Norman. Not LIV Golf. We’re talking Underrated, the brainchild of NBA star, Stephen Curry.
Three years on, and now in its fourth season, the leading boys and girls on the Underrated Tour have just battled it out for the Curry Cup at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey, part of the season-ending Underrated Tour Championship. It marked the end of another highly successful year, with champions from Europe joining the field in a shootout for the silverware. This wasn’t so much about the trophies, however, for Underrated has a bigger purpose.
Many of the 12-18 year-olds who took part in this year’s Underrated Tour have aspirations of playing college golf and turning professional – and they benefit from the full tour pro treatment. Fujikura, the global leaders in golf shaft innovation – has been on site throughout the season offering driver fittings – just as they would for the game’s professionals competing for golf’s most prestigious titles.
Curry launched this junior golf tour with the aim of increasing participation numbers among competitive golfers from diverse communities. Less than two per cent of all golfers are Black or Latinx, a statistic that he’s determined to change. He also hopes the tour can play a part in closing the gender gap by providing girls and young women the same opportunities as their male counterparts.
It’s gathering momentum. Last year, as part of Curry’s plans to offer more opportunities for junior golfers across Europe, the Underrated Golf European Tour made its debut. In May this year, Foxhills Country Club & Resort in Surrey hosted the first of two UK events, with Fairmont St Andrews hosting the second tournament in August.
Golf internet personality Will Lowery, an ambassador for Fujikura and Underrated, said: “Youth from underserved communities face barriers to opportunities in competitive golf. We want to be the bridge that connects talent to access.”
Underrated is not solely about helping talented young golfers find a pathway into the sport. As well as putting on a tournament set-up that can help prepare them for the stresses of collegiate golf, the tour provides important education and networking opportunities to help them achieve success, both on and off the golf course.
For now, though, the season’s winners can be excused from thinking too much about the future. It’s important to enjoy the moment. In fact, for all of those players who competed at the prestigious Liberty National Golf Club, which overlooks the Statue of Liberty, it was a ‘pinch me moment’, one that will live long in the memory.
Players arrived at the course by ferry, and were greeted on the tee with rapturous applause and walk-on music. With Curry – a four-time NBA champion and Olympic gold medalist – watching on, together with LPGA Tour player, Mariah Stackhouse, they delivered quite a show.
In the boys’ division, Jayden Lizama carded a 67 to come from three shots back to win by one stroke. The Curry Cup was the 18-year-old’s second Underrated tournament victory of the season, with both wins coming after he was re-fitted by Fujikura, using a Ventus Black 6-X in his driver.
Lizama said: “The experience of this year’s Underrated Tour has been great, and the fitting helped me drop my ball flight down and drop the spin rate, which allowed me to hit it a lot straighter and further. I am now looking forward to taking my game to the next step at college with the goal to keep winning.”
In the girls’ division, entering the final round, Catherine Andino and Julia Herzberg were tied for the lead at two-under. However, it was Herzberg, from Arizona – who has recently committed to Clemson University – who seized control, eventually winning by an impressive four shots to claim her first-ever Underrated title.
The 2025 campaign started in explosive fashion, with Morgan Riley carding a spectacular second-round 68 in stormy conditions to take the first regional event at Eisenhower Golf Club in Colorado Springs. In the girls’ division, Gianna Singh was equally impressive, overcoming the wind, rain and hail to take the title. Roman Solomon and Hazel Hooper were triumphant at French Lick in Indiana, and Lizama and Ashley Shaw tasted glory at PGA West in California, with Shaw going back-to-back with victory at TPC Sawgrass in Florida the following month. Gabriel Holtz, meanwhile, also got himself into the winner’s circle at the world-famous Stadium Course.
On this side of the pond, Evan Pena and Myla Robinson prevailed at Foxhills. Then, in Scotland, 17-year-old Aayan Dadabhoy, a plus-two handicapper from the UAE, and 15-year-old England international, Arianna Virik, claimed the titles of top European boy and girl respectively which secured them their spots in the Curry Cup at Liberty National.
As for the tour’s founder, it was left to him to give a stirring speech to sign off the 2025 season, before awarding the champions with their trophies. “To see the reception and the response, the turn out, all of our partners, all of the parents and volunteers, for all of the staff here at Liberty National opening your doors to us, it matters so much to have that support and validation from everybody that sees the vision that we have here at Underrated,” he said. “It’s looking out for the interests of these amazing, talented young men and women. Hopefully we have another decade plus in the future to keep doing this.”
Roll on season five.
Fujikura Composites America is proud to have been a supporter and partner with the Underrated Golf Tour during the 2025 season. By supporting the Underrated Golf Tour, Fujikura provides the same opportunity and professionalism that is given to Tour players in the world’s most prestigious events.
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Steph Curry's Underrated Tour has been a huge success.
