Timberlake joins sports legends Tuesday during Tahoe celebrity opening practice round

STATELINE — Sports stars and celebrities worked out the kinks from tee to green Tuesday during the opening practice round of the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course at Lake Tahoe.

Among the headliners to warm up and sign autographs at the famed Tahoe South course were defending 2014 champion Mark Rypien, retired New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, American Olympic soccer star Brandi Chastain and first-timer Justin Timberlake.

The No. 1 celebrity golf tournament in America brings plenty of high-stakes competition, thrills and a fair share of wild swings, long putts and errant golf shots to the famed Edgewood course as a field of more than 80 players tee it up and put their game on before galleries totaling some 40,000 who line fairways, beaches and watch aboard speed boats, sailboats and chartered yachts along the shoreline. The tournament is also featured on NBC Sports.

Among this year’s celebrity lineup is multi-talented music artist and actor Justin Timberlake. The much-decorated performer is an avid golfer who plays to a six handicap and is renowned in the sport for his philanthropic endeavors.

He joins sport stars such as Tahoe celebrity golf favorite Charles Barkley, NFL MVP and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, comedian Larry the Cable Guy, TV personality Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty and a host of current pro athletes and retired Hall of Famers.

The 26th annual tournament raises money for multiple charities and offers free admission to military personnel and guests. Go here for the website and start times and here to follow on Facebook.

Rypien, the Washington Redskins’ former Super Bowl XXVI MVP (1992), who won the very first American Century Championship in 1990, returns this year as well as past winners, three-time champion Billy Joe Tolliver, and eight-time champion Rick Rhoden and two-time winner actor/singer Jack Wagner.

The American Century Championship annually brings in a bevy of new superstars to keep the player list fresh and packed with new faces among the pro sports and entertainment fields.

In 2007, the PGA Tour announced Timberlake as the host of its 2008 Las Vegas tour stop. The tournament was renamed the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open from 2008-2012. In addition to lending his name to the event and attending the tournaments, Timberlake also raised money for the Shriners Hospitals via concert performances during weekend activities.

One of today’s most successful recording artists, Timberlake's work has earned him nine Grammy Awards and four Emmy Awards. As an actor, Timberlake has starred in such acclaimed films as the Academy Award-nominated The Social Network as well as hit movies including Friends With Benefits, Bad Teacher, Trouble With The Curve and Inside Llewyn Davis. In 2013, he released his album The 20/20 Experience – The Complete Experience which became the best-selling album of the year. TIME Magazine named Timberlake one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007 and 2013.

Along with the sports and entertainment stars, Timberlake will join two bona fide heroes in the field. United States Army Sergeant Major Rodney Gorman, and retired United States Army Corporal Chad Pfeifer, both winners of the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s Warrior Open. Gorman, a Gulf War veteran who has also experienced multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, is 90 percent disabled with several shrapnel wounds including in his left forearm. Pfeifer, who finished fifth in last year’s tournament, lost his left leg to an IED explosion in Iraq in 2007.

Four-time champion Billy Joe Tolliver, former quarterback for five NFL teams, is now the top choice of Harrah’s and Harveys Race & Sports Book to win the 26th annual American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament July 17-19 in Lake Tahoe. He is listed at 7-2 to win the event over defending champion Rypien and perennial contenders John Smoltz and John Elway at the event airing on NBC, NBCSN and Golf Channel.

Rypien, the original favorite, is 5-1 with Smoltz at 6-1 and eight-time champion Rick Rhoden at 7-1 for the 54-hole, modified-Stableford competition at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. Other prominent players and their odds are: Jerry Rice (30-1), Aaron Rodgers, Steve Kerr and Justin Timberlake (40-1), Ray Allen, Greg Maddux and Blake Bortles (50-1), Jerome Bettis and Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly (60-1), Roger Clemens, Emmitt Smith, Jared Allen, Alex Smith and Steve Spurrier (100-1) plus Shane Battier, Patrick Peterson at 1000-1.

Celebrated perennial long shot Charles Barkley is alone at 5000-1 with Ray Romano and Kevin Nealon at 2000-1 and Larry The Cable Guy at 2500-1.

Also among the favorites is a pair of distinguished military in the field by virtue of their triumphs in the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s Warrior Open for disabled American military. Corporal Chad Pfeifer, who lost his left leg in an IED explosion in Iraq, is listed at 10-1 after finishing fifth in the American Century Championship last year. Sergeant Major Rod Gorman, winner of the 2014 Warrior Open who is 90 per cent disabled with bullet fragments in his right arm and hip, is listed at 12-1.

Pfeifer, on a sponsor exemption, competed in the Web.com Tour’s Albertson’s Open July 9-12 in his hometown of Boise, ID, leading into the American Century Championship.

“As strong as Mark Rypien’s performance was last year, Tolliver has two wins in the last five tournaments and is a huge scoring threat on the par fives,” said Dave Cudney, Harrah’s and Harveys Race & Sports Book manager. “We’ve also moved Chad Pfeifer from 12-1 to 10-1 because of the level of competition he’s experiencing this week on the Web.com Tour.”

The tournament airs Friday, July 17 – Sunday, July 19, on NBC Sports Group’s family of networks, NBC, NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) and Golf Channel.