How 2015 Warriors title led to Steph, Andre playing Augusta

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It's Masters week, and Warriors superstar Steph Curry is stoked. He’s a scratch golfer and a huge fan of the PGA Tour, as he recently discussed with NBC Sports’ Will Lowery and Doug Smith on the “Beyond the Fairway” podcast.

When asked if he’s ever played at notoriously exclusive Augusta National Golf Club, Curry dropped an amazing story about the Warriors’ first NBA championship run in 2015.

As the tale goes, Steve Kerr had an in with somebody at Augusta. While the Dubs were making their first title run, the Warriors coach told Curry and Andre Iguodala they could play at Augusta if they brought home a ring.

“Myself and Andre Iguodala were the two biggest golfers on the team at the time,” Curry told Lowery and Smith. “We didn’t need any extra motivation because obviously we were chasing the ring, but coach got to us and said, ‘Hey guys, if we win this championship, we can go … we got an invite, we can go celebrate at Augusta.’ We were like, ‘What?’ This man Andre went to get a Finals MVP to get in.”

As soon as the buzzer struck zeroes, Curry said he and Iguodala were already talking about hitting the links. Curry grabbed the final rebound as time expired in Cleveland and the Warriors clinched the title in Game 6 against the Cavaliers.

“It’s funny, too,” Curry said, “you’ll watch the clip of us celebrating right after we won the championship, I got the ball, I threw it up in the air, Andre’s [running] -- and that was the first mistake, you gotta keep the ball when you win the championship, that was the first mistake -- he catches it, then he runs at me and we start jumping up and down. 

“There’s no mic or anything, you’ve gotta read his lips, but he’s jumping up and down like, ‘Yeah! Yeah! We’re going to Augusta! We’re going to Augusta!’ in the middle of the court.”

That’s awesome. There’s video proof, too. If you skip to the 3:20 mark at the video below, you can see Iguodala going crazy and appearing to mouth the phrase, indeed.

A couple months later, Curry and Iguodala got to play at the famed golf course.

“Long story short, a couple months later we finally got to go, so I did play it,” Curry said. “It is unbelievable. Obviously as you go into the grounds, it’s wild because you know every hole, you’ve seen it over and over and over again. The undulation, the topography, all that stuff, it’s just heaven, man.”

RELATED: Steph says nearing Wilt's scoring record is 'surreal'

As for his pick for this year’s Masters?

The interview was conducted before Jordan Speith took home the Valero Texas Open title this past weekend, but Curry was hot on the trail.

“I like what Jordan Speith is doing right now,” Curry said. “He’s playing well enough to be in contention every week. He hasn’t won yet, but he’s saving that for Augusta. When you get him with confidence at that course, exorcise all of them demons in the past, I like it, I like it a lot.”

We'll never know the full story, so whenever nuggets like Curry’s from the 2015 NBA Championship are shared, it adds another layer of context to the dynastic run the Warriors made last decade.

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