Fish a splash at American Century Championship at Lake Tahoe

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - Mardy Fish won the 31st American Century Championship (ACC) at Edgewood Tahoe on Sunday with a three-round total of 76 in the Stableford scoring system used at the popular celebrity golf tournament.

Fish followed up his record round on Saturday with a rather ordinary 21-point effort Sunday, but it was enough to claim his first title at Tahoe. He's had five top-five finishes at Edgewood in six previous appearances in the ACC.

Fish, the former top-ranked American on the ATP Tour, held off former Buffalo Bills defensive lineman Kyle Williams who finished with 67 points.

The left-handed Fish, who on Saturday shot a 9-under-par 63 and racked up a tournament-record 37 points, had a 5- to 6-point lead over Williams for most of Sunday’s final round and all but clinched it when he made a 3-point birdie on the par-5 16th.

“I’ve wanted to play well here for a long time,” said Fish, who jumped into Lake Tahoe to celebrate his win. “It just doesn’t suit my eye very well, so I haven’t put it all together. And thankfully I put it all together yesterday because it wasn’t today and it wasn’t Friday.”

Kyle Williams is the first linemen to finish second place in the American Century Championship history. In his second appearance, Williams shot 70, 71, 75 keeping in the top two the entire weekend.

“I’m happy for Mardy. I don’t like that he did it at my expense, but he was the best player this week,” offer the 295-pound Williams, who finished 12th in 2019.

Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz was alone in third place with 58 points. “Mardy played fearless. He played relentless,” Smoltz said. “He didn’t change his theory and it ended up working out.”

Tony Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and two-time defending ACC champ had to withdraw Sunday morning due to an undisclosed wrist injury late in his round Saturday. Local paramedics taped up his wrist during that round.

Former NBA great Charles Barkley, who has frequently finished last in this event, was 70th in the 71-player field, edging out former Ohio State Heisman Trophy-winning running back Eddie George.

Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry had 26 points Sunday – his second-best effort in eight appearances at the Lake Tahoe event – and finished fourth with 56 points.

Steph and his dad Del bet on their games each year, with the loser taking a dip in the chilly lake twice. This year, Steph spotted his dad six points, giving them a tie this year with Steph ending the tournament six points better than Del The series between father and son is now 2-1-1 in favor of Steph. The Golden State Warrior still has to "pay up" on their bet last year which was putting Steph in front of the microphone for karaoke in front of the celebrities during their annual party. With no parties this year, that is being moved to 2021.

Both Currys jumped in with WBA boxer Canelo Alvarez and winner Mardy Fish and two of their caddies. Alvarez, who has been golfing less than 11 months ended up with a respectful 84 for his final round.

For a list of all finishers, visit http://www.scoring.r2it.com/golf/acc/Leaderboard.aspx.

The tournament was held without fans due to the coronavirus. Safety protocols were in place and about 250 people were on the course which included players, caddies if they chose to have one, a few tournament volunteers and personnel, and some media. Normally 62,000 are on the course for the week-long event with the players, vendors, spectators and a large volunteer base.

All players waived their prize money and instead joined with tournament sponsor American Century Investments to donate the $600,000 prize money to three groups: the Equal Justice Initiative, COVID-19 relief, including the Notah Begay III (NB3) Foundation COVID-19 Response Fund and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) COVID-19 Response Fund, as well as regional Lake Tahoe non-profits.