Mardy Fish birdies nine of final 13 holes to take lead heading into Sunday

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Mardy Fish is becoming a birdie machine at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, and it’s got him on the cusp of his second American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in five years.

Fish, the former professional tennis player, and U.S. Davis Cup captain, birdied nine of his final 13 holes – each worth 3 points in this modified Stableford scoring event – and has 57 points, seven points clear of second-place Joe Pavelski heading into Sunday’s final round. The winner receives $150,000 of the $750,000 purse.

First-round leader Adam Thielen was at 45 points, five behind Pavelski and 12 behind Fish.

Fish’s 7-under 65 Saturday was good for 34 points, second in tournament history only to his 37 points in 2020, when he won and set the course record with a 63. He had 10 birdies in that round.

“It just felt like, today sometimes you have those rounds where you go behind your ball and look at the putt or whatever and you see it, like, right away,” said Fish, a silver medalist in the 2004 Olympic Games. “And I had a lot of those today.”

Former NBA great Charles Barkley, a perennial fan favorite, also continued to have his personal best week. He followed a 3-point effort Friday – his first-ever round with positive points since the tournament adopted the Stableford format in 2003 – with 0 points Saturday and is tied for 52nd.

The Barkley wager – the Caesars Sportsbook creation on whether he’ll finish among the top 75 – is not a foregone conclusion, but it’s likely to happen for the first time in its four-year run.

Pavelski, the NHL veteran who said he is likely retiring, had his own great round – seven birdies and a 4-under 68 for 29 points – but even that couldn’t reel Fish in.

“You're trying to stay connected to Mardy,” said Pavelski, who reached the Stanley Cup semifinals with the Dallas Stars this season and then said he was taking a year off and likely retiring. “We can kind of hear what's going on back there.

“It sounds like he was making putts from all over the green at distance, hitting good shots. That's what he does. He was on one of those here today.”

Fish hasn’t finished outside of the top seven in his last nine appearances here, and that fact, coupled with Saturday’s round, wasn’t lost on his fellow celebrities.

“He’s a bully,” said former major league pitcher, Mark Mulder, a three-time winner here who is tied for fourth. “Not cool. We’re trying to catch up to him and he’s pulling away. If he's putting the way he's capable, I don't know, it's hard, I think, for any of us to beat him because of the way he strikes the ball.”

Joining Mulder in a tie for fourth was former Major League pitcher Derek Lowe (42), followed by LPGA legend Annika Sorenstam (41).

The final round is Sunday and televised live on NBC (2:30-6 pm ET).

For a list of the pairings for Sunday, visit HERE. There are still tickets available and are sold only online, and the gates at Edgewood Tahoe open at 7 a.m. and the final round tee times (1 and 10 tees) are 7:30 a.m. – 9:41 a.m.