Mardy Fish wins American Century Championship, celebrates with dive into Lake Tahoe
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 07/15/2024 - 6:40am
A record crowd watched Mardy Fish win the 35th annual American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe in Stateline this weekend. He overcame a charge by Joe Pavelski on the final day of play.
"I've won a few of the celebrity golf, if you will, tournaments, and so I felt comfortable kind of coming into here having won in Dallas and in Maine, and then this is the one you really want to win," said Fish after winning with am 83 points, four points ahead of Pavelski. "American Century is really the one sort of Super Bowl, culminating the rest of the year."
After winning the tournament, Fish took at dive into Lake Tahoe.
Fish, a former U.S. Davis Cup team captain and Olympic silver medalist, was one point shy of tying former NFL quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver’s tournament record of 84 in 2010.
The top finishers (with Stableford scoring points):
Mardy Fish - 83
Joe Pavelski - 79
Annika Sorenstam - 68
John Smoltz - 64
Derek Lowe - 62
Pavelski helped the Dallas Stars reach the Stanley Cup semifinals this year and has announced he is retiring. He also got off to a good start and then birdied three holes on the back nine to close the gap to five points when he birdied the par-4 15th. His 5-under 67 was the best round of the day.
“When you're chasing Fish down, you know you'll have to go and get it and win it. So, we were going to have to make a few putts,” said Pavelski, who has yet to win here but notched his third straight top-three finish. “I felt I chipped into his lead a little bit. Then all of a sudden it was gone. And he kind of grew the lead a little bit.”
Fish won in 2000 when he set the course record with a 9-under 63. In his last 10 appearances, he has finished no worse than seventh. On Sunday, he received $150,000 of the $750,000 purse.
Charles Barkley has best-ever finish
Former NBA great and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer "Sir" Charles Barkley ended up in 58th place, his best-ever finish in 29 starts. This was his best performance in more than 25 years when he lost any feel for the game and languished annually at or near last place. He finished with minus-4 points for 58th place. This also marked the first time in four years that he finished on the “good” side of the Caesars Sportsbook wager, finishing among the top 75.
“It feels really good,” Barkley said. “I put a lot of time and effort in. I've been working hard for the last few years. The last couple of years actually haven't been bad. I had a shot at it."
But I played really, really well the first two days, Barkley said: “I'm really proud about today's round because, like I say, I started out struggling and I found a way to get it together.”
Dell Curry, Seth Curry and the Curry Family Belt
Last year's champion, Steph Curry, couldn't make it to the ACC this year due to preparations for the Summer Olympics in Paris. His father Del and brother Seth were there, representing the Curry family. They play for the annual "Family Belt," which resembles a wrestling championship belt.
This year's belt winner was Seth.
"With Steph not here we had to get creative with the point system, the handicap, to see who would take the belt this year," said Seth. "I got out to a good start on day one and had to hold onto it from there. I think with me getting the belt this year, I think everybody's had the belt -- each different group has had the belt for the last couple of years. Pops had it first. Then Steph had it last year and I have it this year. We'll come back
with it next year with some more creative game and see who gets it next year. Hopefully Steph's here with us."
"He's been having a little FOMO, fear of missing out," said Dell of Steph being in Paris instead of Tahoe. "He knows how much fun we're having. He's
excited about the Olympics. He's been cheering us on to play our best, of course. He doesn't want to lose the belt, didn't want to give it up."
The Curry family is now headed to Paris to watch Steph play for the USA.
