A teen golfer from Florida has NBA star Steph Curry to thank for boosting her career

NBA superstar Steph Curry has never forgotten what it felt like to be a scrawny, overlooked kid coming out of high school; so, he made it his personal mission to showcase similar kids and put them on college recruiters’ radar.

Nicole “Niky” Sardinha, a 15-year-old golfer from Doral, Fla., is one of those kids.

Sardinha emigrated to the United States from Venezuela six years ago and in a few weeks will be one of 12 girls traveling to New York City, all expenses paid, to compete in the Curry Cup from Sept. 2-4. She is the top female qualifier in the tournament after winning the girls division of the recent San Antonio, Texas, stop on Curry’s UNDERRATED Golf Tour.

Curry founded UNDERRATED GOLF in 2022 to provide equity, access and opportunity to student-athletes from diverse communities by paying their way to national tournaments and giving them entrée to prestigious golf courses and exposure to college coaches they otherwise may not have received. He runs a similar program for young basketball players.

Thus far, more than 20 student athletes have received college golf scholarships with the help of Curry’s tour and one alumnus became a professional golfer. At each of the four tour stops, 96 male and female golfers compete in tournament play, participate in team-building activities and network with coaches and executives. Twelve boys and girls qualify for the Curry Cup Championship.

Sardinha, a Miami Herald All-Dade Golf selection as an eighth and ninth grader at Divine Savior School, is overjoyed to be one of them. She says the UNDERRATED Golf Tour is “very different” from traditional junior tournaments.

“Golf is a solitary sport, but UNDERRATED is a family atmosphere and not only do I get to play on amazing, top-level courses, but we have panels where we learn about different careers and they take us to visit universities,” Sardinha said. “We already visited Notre Dame and Stanford and got to play on their golf courses. The diversity of the people we get to meet and the bonds and friendships I have made are amazing.”

One of the tour organizers reached out to Sardinha after learning of her success, she applied, and joined in 2023. She won the Akron, Ohio, tour stop her first season, and this year won the event at the TPC San Antonio course.

“I wouldn’t have been able to have these opportunities without UNDERRATED,” Sardinha said. “I got into golf pretty late, and my parents have worked so hard to give me all the opportunities possible, and UNDERRATED has made a big difference … The tournament I just played in was at a PGA Tour level course which is so exclusive, so that was such a big opportunity we got from UNDERRATED.”

Luis Sardinha, Nicole’s father, echoed his daughter’s sentiments.

“We met Steph Curry briefly last year in San Francisco at the Curry Cup and this tour he started is very special and necessary,” Luis Sardinha said. “It helps many kids from all over the country to play on prestigious courses that they would not normally get to, and also teaches them that there is life away from the golf course.”

He added that Curry’s personal experience going from an underrated player to a megastar helps him understand what kind of guidance young athletes need.

“We have to applaud Steph Curry, such a huge star, for having the initiative to create this program to help kids of all races and nationalities,” said Luis, who works in the Real Estate industry. “They are all integrated and the lessons they get about golf and life are invaluable.”

Sardinha first picked up a golf club when she was nine years old during a family outing to a Top Golf-type venue in Venezuela.

“It was super random,” she recalled, laughing. “The only golf I knew was mini golf. I just started playing around and I really liked it. I was able to hit the ball easily, compared to the other people, and my dad noticed I had … I guess you would call it a gift for golf.”

Sardinha’s mother, Kristel Cohen, was a professional ballet dancer before becoming a nutritionist and fitness instructor, so Niky did ballet for six years. She also played tennis, did gymnastics and cross-fit. But once she started hitting a golf ball, she knew she had found her passion.

She started taking golf lessons once a week. It grew to a few times a week, and before long, she quit other sports and played golf exclusively. She also started watching professional golf on T.V.

“Every Saturday and Sunday, me and my family would just sit in our living room and watch the last round of every tournament,” she said. Among her favorite PGA players to watch are Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy. Her favorite LPGA players are Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson.

The Sardinhas moved to South Florida when Niky was 11. She attended Divine Savior School and began taking golf lessons with coach Fernando “Coach Solo” Solorzano at Costa del Sol Golf Club in Doral. Solorzano remains one of her coaches.

This summer, the Sardinha family is moving from Doral to the Orlando area, where Niky, now a sophomore, is enrolled at the International Junior Golf Academy. She will spend the mornings playing golf alongside 100 other young prospects and do online classwork in the afternoons.

“I felt like golf got kind of limited here in Miami, every tournament I played was further north in Florida, so it was a lot of travel for us,” Sardinha said. “In Orlando there’s a golf course every 10 minutes that I can play on. My school (Divine Savior) was great helping me with sports, but I struggled with my absences because I had to travel so much. Doing online school I can have more flexibility.”

Sardinha’s parents said the decision to uproot the family was not easy. Their son, Christopher, is 11 and plays soccer, so they took his needs into consideration, as well.

“Obviously, the decision to move the entire family from one city to another is not a simple one,” Luis Sardinha said. “But we analyzed everything, and my wife and I decided it was best to move to the Orlando area, not only for Nicole, but for all four of us. We will live close to the golf academy and also close to the soccer academy where our son will be, so that makes our day-to-day life easier.”

For now, Niky is focused on the Curry Cup Championship, which will be played at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. In addition to the trophy, winners get AJGA Full Exemption Status for following season, exemptions into top junior golf events, and a Callaway Next Sponsorship.

“Golf has always been one of the most powerful vehicles to spark professional and social conversations,” said Curry, the Golden State Warriors star and four-time NBA champion, when announcing the third season of his tour along with partner KPMG tax firm.

“Each year, we set out to provide underrepresented individuals access to the game who have never had it before, along with invaluable opportunities and benefits that come with the game of golf.”