An open letter to Stephen Curry, with Tahoe at the center, basketball first and a national-championship tee time to earn.
Dear Steph,
If Tahoe is your Super Bowl, we have a question.
Where is your regular season?
A proper summer centerpiece deserves a proper buildup. So we have appointed ourselves your amateur-golf scheduling committee. Nobody asked us. We have nevertheless given the matter considerable thought.
The assignment: arrive at Edgewood ready to contend, then turn that form into a legitimate run at a USGA championship. There is one fairly significant complication: you are still Stephen Curry.
Basketball gets first call. Golf gets a plan.
The first rule: work around your season
Your golf season begins after your final NBA game, with time to recover. During basketball, the assignment is putting, wedges and occasional scored rounds when team commitments allow. An off-day on the game schedule is not automatically a tournament day: practice, travel and recovery still count.
We are building for a deep playoff run first. If basketball ends sooner, a few California starts become options. Nobody here is rooting for an early exit because we found a nice tee time.
The golf calendar has to move around the Warriors. The Warriors do not move around our golf calendar.
Two events we love that do not make the active card
Our own Silicon Valley Amateur is the first temptation. Stanford, January 11–13, 2027: 54 holes and a strong amateur field. Non-exempt players have a January 4 qualifier at Boulder Ridge; registration closes December 28. We would love to see you there. But Golden State plays Sacramento on January 12 and Charlotte on January 13. Those home games do not make three days of tournament golf a sensible assumption. For this plan, Silicon Valley stays off the active playing schedule. Running the event does not give us control of your day job. Silicon Valley details; Warriors schedule.
The San Francisco City is the hometown dream. Imagine drawing Steph Curry in a municipal match-play event at Harding Park or Lincoln Park. But March belongs to basketball, and a run through the bracket requires every scheduled round, not one convenient afternoon. Until the complete golf draw and team obligations can be reconciled, it also stays outside the active plan. It is a terrific future ambition; it is not a start we can honestly promise during this NBA season. San Francisco City information.
The actual playing plan: start when basketball finishes
These are proposed targets, not announced Curry commitments. “TBD” means the 2027 date or venue is still to be confirmed. Earlier editions help us identify possible windows; they do not establish next year’s dates. Every entry also depends on eligibility, acceptance or qualifying.
| Window | Golf assignment | How it fits the NBA season |
|---|---|---|
| After your last NBA game | Recover, then rebuild the golf routine. | The starting line moves with the Warriors. No tournament takes priority over a game, team duty or necessary recovery. |
| April — 2027 TBD | Alameda Commuters, Corica Park. First spring option. | Only after an early basketball finish and recovery, with an entry already secured. Skip it if the Warriors are still playing. |
| May — 2027 TBD | Santa Cruz City Amateur, DeLaveaga. A local municipal test. | An alternative spring start once basketball is over. We do not automatically stack it on top of Alameda. |
| June — 2027 TBD | U.S. Amateur local qualifying. | Choose a suitable published site only if basketball permits. A June qualifier is not guaranteed to fit a deep playoff run. |
| June — 2027 TBD | Los Angeles City Men’s Championship or California Amateur. | Choose one buildup event after basketball and recovery. The state amateur also requires its own entry route. Skip both if the timing does not work. |
| Early July — 2027 TBD | Monterey City Amateur, Del Monte. Preferred final Tahoe rehearsal. | Only if the actual dates leave a recovery and preparation buffer. After a deep NBA run, this could be the sole pre-Tahoe start—or one we skip. |
| July 7–11, 2027 | American Century Championship tournament week, Edgewood Tahoe. | The summer centerpiece. Protect preparation and family time; these are full tournament-week dates. |
| July — 2027 TBD | U.S. Amateur final qualifying. | Only if advanced or otherwise eligible. Reserve this before optional summer starts. |
| Mid-July — 2027 TBD | San Diego City Amateur, Torrey Pines. | Optional post-Tahoe city competition, provided recovery and final qualifying both fit. Drop it if they do not. |
| July 26–31, 2027 | Western Amateur, Knollwood Club, Illinois. | The optional elite-field stretch, if accepted. Add it only if form, workload and basketball preparation justify the trip. |
| August 9–15, 2027 | U.S. Amateur, Oak Hill, New York. | The reach goal, only if qualified or exempt. Hold time for preparation rather than filling every preceding week. |
| Late summer — 2027 TBD | U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying. | The priority national-championship route if the earlier Amateur path could not fit. Reserve a site around summer basketball obligations. |
| September 18–23, 2027 | U.S. Mid-Amateur, Jupiter Hills, Florida. | Only if qualified or exempt and compatible with reporting dates, team preparation and any national-team commitments. |
Why the city stops belong
We want competitive rounds where every putt counts. Alameda at Corica Park and Santa Cruz at DeLaveaga give us spring possibilities close to the Bay Area. Their 2026 events ran April 24–26 and May 23–24, respectively; their 2027 calendars still need checking. They are options opened by an earlier NBA finish, not reasons to manufacture one. Alameda organizer; DeLaveaga.
L.A. City offers another municipal test if June becomes available. We would compare its published dates with the California Amateur, then pick the better fit instead of treating both as mandatory. The 2026 calendar placed L.A. City on June 11–14 and the California Amateur on June 22–27. Both windows can be awkward for an NBA contender. SCGA city calendar; California Amateur.
Monterey is our favorite potential bridge to Tahoe. Del Monte’s 2026 championship ran July 3–5. If the 2027 edition lands in a usable early-July window, it could supply one final scorecard before Edgewood. If it leaves too little time, we take the June rounds and rest. The purpose is to arrive sharp, not exhausted. Monterey City organizer.
San Diego City at Torrey Pines is the optional follow-through. Its 2026 dates were July 13–15, which explains the appeal of a post-Tahoe slot. But the 2027 date must fit final qualifying, recovery and the rest of the summer. Torrey is worth a start; it is not worth losing the USGA opportunity we built the season around. San Diego City details.
Two versions of the season, one set of priorities
If basketball ends early: recover, then target one spring tournament, one June tournament and Monterey if the dates leave room. Tahoe follows. San Diego and the Western are optional additions, not obligations. Qualifying rounds must be reserved separately.
If the Warriors go deep: remove the spring block. Recover first. Play at most one pre-Tahoe event if it fits, and accept that the right number could be zero. If U.S. Amateur local qualifying cannot be reached, stop building around Oak Hill and put the competitive effort toward the later Mid-Amateur route.
And we handle the paperwork before any of this. An early NBA exit does not reopen a closed golf field. Track entry deadlines, exemption applications, qualifier dates and withdrawal terms while basketball continues. Do not promise a start that cannot be entered.
Earn the first tee
Under the published 2026 requirements, the U.S. Amateur’s Handicap Index ceiling is 0.4. The Mid-Amateur requires amateur status, age 25 or older and an Index no higher than 2.4. Current eligibility and the 2027 terms must be checked. Celebrity status does not complete the application. U.S. Amateur requirements; Mid-Amateur requirements.
In 2026, Amateur local qualifying ran in June and final qualifying in July. Those are planning guides, not confirmed 2027 dates. We need both stages to work. The Mid-Amateur remains our preferred season-long national target, but even its September championship must yield to basketball obligations.
The confirmed summer anchors are Tahoe’s July 7–11 week, the Western Amateur, July 26–31, the U.S. Amateur, August 9–15, and the U.S. Mid-Amateur, September 18–23. Our invitations remain imaginary. Your entries would have to be real.
Win a city title. Arrive ready for Tahoe. Earn a USGA berth if the calendar and the golf cooperate. Give us a summer in which checking your scores becomes a perfectly reasonable use of a weekday afternoon.
We will keep an eye on the calendar.
You handle the four-footers.
Sincerely,
Your Entirely Unappointed Golf Scheduling Committee
Editorial note: This is a proposed 2027 season, researched September 17, 2026, not an announcement of Curry’s participation. Events marked TBD use earlier schedules only as planning guides. The imagined championship image is AI-generated, not a real result. The Tahoe premise comes from a reader-described clip; its exact wording has not been independently verified. Dates, entry requirements and team obligations remain subject to change.
