Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images
Fish is now a two-time American Century Championship winner as he held onto his final round lead to win by four points.
Mardy Fish is a winner again in Lake Tahoe.
After an incredible 34-point performance on Saturday, he added a 26-point final round to win by four points with an 83 total at the 2024 American Century Championship. It marked his second title at this tournament as he also won in 2020.
This event uses a modified Stableford scoring system. To better understand the scoring; players receive a point for par, three for a birdie and six for an eagle. If they make a bogey or worse, they lose two points.
He held off Joe Pavelski, who recorded back-to-back rounds of 29 points. In third place was the legendary LPGA superstar Annika Sorenstam, who scored 68 points in the three-day event.
Fish had a pretty lackluster first round, scoring 23 points. He recorded five birdies, two bogeys, and a double.
However, he completely turned it around on Saturday. The former tennis player birdied nine of his final 13 holes and took a seven-point lead ahead of the final day.
Fish scored 26 points on Sunday, enough to hold off the Dallas Stars forward. His 83 points were one short of the tournament record that Billy Joe Tolliver set in 2010.
“I’ve won a few of the celebrity golf tournaments, and so I felt comfortable kind of coming into here having won in Dallas and in Maine,” Fish said. “And this is the one you want to win. American Century is the Super Bowl, culminating the rest of the year.”
Fish won $150,000 out of the $750,000 purse.
Steph Curry was not in Lake Tahoe this year to defend his title as he chose to focus on the 2024 Paris Olympic games.
However, the three-day American Century Championship did see some solid golf. Not to mention, the crowds were there in full force to support their favorite celebrities.
Charles Barkley recorded his best finish as he tied for 58th with minus-four points. John Smoltz was fourth with 64 points.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
