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IN CASE you missed it, Steph Curry was on fire from deep on the weekend . . . deep on the fairway, that is. Curry nailed a hole-in-one and hit an eagle on his final shot on his way to victory in the American Century Championship (ACC) celebrity tournament. It seems this Splash Brother splashes, regardless of whether he’s on a court, field or fairway.
The hole-in-one brought delirium to the gallery at Edgware Tahoe, as Curry nailed the 138m par-three seventh hole, before ripping off his hat, holding a finger in the air and sprinting to the hole, smacking the flag in delight.
“That was wild,” Curry said afterwards. “It was good contact, right at the stick, but even if you’re painting the flag and it looks good, you never really expect it to go in. I just saw a bunch of hands go up, and then you just kind of black out.” The shot helped Curry to victory in the modified Stableford event, in which he finished with 75 points, two ahead of runner-up Mardy Fish, a former pro tennis player who won the event in 2020. With his win Curry became the first active athlete to win the ACC since 2000 when the NFL’s Al Del Greco achieved the feat.
It was Curry’s second career hole-in-one. The four-time NBA champion and NBA 3-point shooting GOAT started playing golf at the age of 10 and boasts a handicap of 1.
Many athletes grow up playing multiple sports and often face a difficult decision in choosing one to pursue. Here’s a look at some of the best multi-sport athletes of all time, ranked from 10 to 1.
10.
Michael Jordan, basketball, baseball
‘His Airness’ famously quit hoops for baseball in 1994, turning out for the Birmingham Barons in the minor leagues. While the move was ridiculed at the time, most famously by a Sports Illustrated cover urging him to ‘Bag It, Michael’, over 497 games Jordan recorded stats of 202/. 289/. 266, three home runs, 51 RBI, 30 stolen bases, 51 walks and 114 strikeouts, all while looking fly in a baseball uniform.
9.
Ellyse Perry, cricket, football
The Australian all-rounder debuted for both the national cricket team and soccer teams at 16, a truly mind-blowing feat. Perry was also the first person to have appeared in both the ICC and FIFA World Cups. Since 2014 she’s focused on cricket, averaging 75 with the bat and a tick under 20 with the ball, in 10 tests.
8.
Keith Miller, cricket, AFL
Arguably Australia’s greatest all-round cricketer, alongside Adam Gilchrist, Miller was a member of the famous 1948 Invincibles team, playing 55 Tests in which he averaged 36.97 with the bat and 22.97 with the ball. Less well known: he played 50 games for St Kilda in the then-VFL, once kicking eight goals against North Melbourne.
7.
Ash Barty, tennis, cricket
Barty’s early junior career in tennis was a party (had to). She was a junior Wimbledon champion and played in doubles finals at three grand slams, but in late 2014, at just 18, Barty turned her back on the game to play cricket, joining the Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League, despite having no experience beyond backyard cricket. That didn’t stop her from scoring 39 from just 27 balls in the first-ever Women’s Big Bash game. Barty returned to tennis in 2016 and we all know how that went – she won the French Open singles title in 2019, Wimbledon in 2021 and the Australian Open in 2022, bowing out at just 25 as world number 1.
6.
Nova Peris, hockey, athletics
Peris was the first indigenous Australian to win an Olympic medal when the Hockeyroos won gold at Atlanta in 1996. She’d already won a World Cup in Dublin in 1994 and the Champions Trophy in 1993. From 1996 onwards she focused on athletics, winning two Commonwealth Games gold medals in 1998 in the 200m and the 4x100m relay in Kuala Lumpur and making the semi-finals of the 400m at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. A true polymath, after hanging up her track spikes Peris went into politics and in 2013 became the first female Aboriginal federal MP.
5.
Anthony Mundine, rugby league, boxing
Many people forget how good this guy was in rugby league. In a stellar seven-year career with the Dragons and Broncos ‘Choc’ made three grand finals and played one full Origin series. Mundine quit League in 2000 to try his hand at his father Tony’s sport of boxing. He finished with 48-10-0 record and held the WBA super-middleweight title twice, the IBO middleweight belt and the WBA interim super-welterweight title, as well as being part of one of the biggest fights in Australian boxing history with Danny Green.
4.
Jim Thorpe, athletics, NFL, baseball
If you want to talk multiple sports this guy was an athletic Swiss Army Knife. Thorpe won Olympic gold in both the pentathlon and decathlon (that’s effectively 15 sports between them) in 1912. He also played professional football for 13 years, Major League Baseball for seven years and professional basketball for two.
3.
Shaun White, snowboarding, skateboarding
Half-pipe snowboarding’s GOAT, White has won three gold medals in the event. As a skateboarder he won numerous titles including Action Sports Tour Champion and was the first person to compete and win at both the Summer and Winter X Games in two different sports.
2.
Deion Sanders, NFL, baseball
Neon Deion’ was a Hall-of-Fame defensive back over 14 seasons in which he was named to eight Pro Bowls, received six first-team All-Pros and made consecutive Super Bowl appearances with the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys, winning both. During the spring and summer, Sanders was a more than solid outfielder. He stole more than 20 bags in a season three times, led the National League in triples in 1992 with 14, while hitting .304. He’s the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series.
1.
Bo Jackson, NFL, baseball
The only professional athlete in history to be named an All-star in two major American sports, football and baseball. As a running back for the Auburn Tigers Jackson won the prestigious Heisman Trophy in 1985. In the NFL he played for the LA Raiders, while in Major League Baseball he turned out for the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and California Angels. A hip injury ended Jackson’s football career in 1991, while he retired from baseball in 1994. Jackson continued to push the achievement envelope – he completed a science degree and also worked as an actor with cameos in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Married With Children.
Ben Jhoty covers sport and wellness for Esquire Australia.
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