4 takeaways from Stephen Curry's pro golf debut

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors made his professional golf debut Thursday at the Web.com Tour's Ellie Mae Classic. The two-time NBA MVP fired a respectable 4-over-par 74 on Thursday, but will likely need to play much better if he wants to attain his goal of making the weekend.

Here are four takeaways from Curry's debut:

His short game was great

Curry was a little erratic with his tee shots in the first round, flashing his opening one into the bottom of a golf cart cup holder. He eventually settled down, but found just seven fairways on the day, which ties him for 131st in that category. Curry hit 44 percent of the greens in regulation, but needed just 27 putts, and averaged 1.625 putts per GIR.

"He has really good touch around the greens," Stephan Jaeger told Kevin Spain of USA Today. "I think that's where most amateurs aren't as good as the pros. I tell you what, he was hitting really good chips."

He beat Sam Ryder

Ryder is ranked No. 2 on the Web.com Tour money list, and won his last event by eight shots two weeks back. The 27-year-old earned $108,000 for the victory, wrapping up his PGA Tour card for the 2017-18 season. On Thursday, the NBA point guard beat Ryder by one, 74 to 75.

He's getting support

While some aren't very enthusiastic about Curry's sponsored invitation this week, others appreciate his attempt inside the ropes.

The Web.com Tour should do this more

There are several notable events this week in the golf world, with a WGC in Akron, another PGA Tour event in Reno, and the Women's British Open in Scotland. Yet this event is grabbing a lot of attention thanks to Curry's presence. The U.S. developmental tour should seriously consider doing this more often.

"We want to get used to those crowds," Jaeger said, referring to the mass of people who followed Curry's group Thursday.