Stars and fans return for American Century Championship in July

The 32nd American Century Championship will return July 9-11 in South Lake Tahoe at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course with a star-studded field. 

The field will consist of 80 sports and entertainment stars headlined by Justin Timberlake, two-time tournament champion Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, C.C. Sabathia and Charles Barkley, who will aim to take home a  $600,000 prize going towards tournament charities. 

After playing the tournament last year without fans because of the pandemic, an estimated 30,000 spectators will be on site this year. Despite no fans in 2020, the tournament raised $600,000 for COVID-19 and social justice charities. 

The field will include 39 current and former NFL players and coaches such as Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Sean McDermott, Jerry Rice, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Justin Tuck, Travis Kelce, Patrick Peterson, Charles Woodson, Andrew Whitworth and Adam Thielen. 

NBA and MLB greats such as Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Kyle Lowry, Greg Maddux, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Joe Mauer will be a part of the competition this year. 

Three-time tournament champion Mark Mulder, a two-time MLB all-star with the Oakland A’s, PGA Tour Champions exemption competitor John Smoltz and defending tournament champion Mardy Fish, the U.S. Davis Cup captain, will all back at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course this year. 

Women participating in July are NBC News and “Today Show” meteorologist Dylan Dreyer, NBC Sports anchor and on-air personality Kathryn Tappen and Golf Channel on-air commentator and 2015 Miss America, Kira K. Dixon. 

All-in-all, this year’s field has 16 Hall of Famers, 13 Most Valuable Player awards and 15 Cy Young awards in total. 

Additional names to the field will be announced leading up to the championship in July. 

This year’s championship will be played with the modified-Stableford format where points are awarded as follows: 10 for an albatross, 8 for a hole-in-one, 3 for a birdie, 1 for par, 0 for bogey, and minus-2 for double bogey.

The 54-hole championship will be televised on NBC and NBCSN with the Golf Channel contributing surrounding coverage throughout the week.