ANDY BREWER

by premier June 30, 2014

written by premier June 30, 2014

2013 AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

By Andy Brewer

The Edgewood Golf Course in spectacular Lake Tahoe, Stateline, Nevada, served as host site for the 2013 American Century Championship, July 16-21.

The Tom Fazio designed course features towering pines, meandering brooks and natural wetlands. Lake Tahoe still showcases its snow-capped mountains during this time of the year and the backdrop was spectacular. Truly, this was a fitting site for one of the longest-running celebrity golf tournaments.
(Photo left: Andy Brewer, freelance writer and President, Andy B Golf

The MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa, located in Stateline, Nevada, kept me comfortable during my stay. The 437-room hotel is owned and operated by Tropicana Entertainment. The property includes a 40,000 sq ft casino on a 21-acre site with leu Cloud beds, oversized tubs and Lake Mountain views.
The American Century Championship tournament attracted a who’s who list of participants from the world of professional athletics, and stars of film, television and music.

Headline participants included Charles Barkley, Jerry Rice, Michel Phelps, Aarron Rogers, Stephen Curry and Herm Edwards. (Photo above: Michael Jordan on his mission for a birdie.)

Interestingly, more than twenty percent of the star-studded field was African American players.

While I have attended many celebrity golf events in the past, and have even chaired a few events of my own, this was the first time that I had the honor (and pleasure) to attend an event as a working member of the press. Rising NBA star Stephen Curry was kind enough to share a few of his thoughts we me as he came into the media room. He was the round two tournament leader and I was elated to meet him.
“I wouldn’t call myself that,” said Curry, after being asked if he was a contender to win the overall tournament.

“I feel obviously every time I play golf, I look back at the shots I left out there. I think I had, like, three birdie putts inside of ten feet that I missed. I feel I could play a little better; but obviously I hit some other great shots, especially on the back side, that allowed me to play a great round today. So it’s a long event, two more days, hopefully I can back it up”, Curry added.

And back it up he did! In only his second appearance in the event, Curry finished the event tied for fourth, the highest finish out of all of the African American golfers who participated.

The event winner was Billy Joe Tolliver in a two player play-off. The top five money winners were Grant Fuhr (hockey), Vince Coleman (baseball), Sterling Sharpe (football), Marshall Fault (football) and Jerry Rice (football).