Jordan's caddy impressed his greatness

STATELINE -- Michael Jordan, always the most popular player at the American Century Championship, did his typical dodging of the media on Wednesday. His caddie Dustin Fox, though, isn't as well versed as Jordan in avoiding cameras and notebooks.

Fox, the son of Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course Head Pro Randy Fox, said he wasn't nervous carrying the clubs for one of the greatest NBA players ever. And since he's also a golfer, the only thing he occasionally messed up was what most golfers have problems with -- reading greens.

"It was cool, he's a really nice guy," said the 21-year-old Fox, who fired the lowest score at last week's Alaska State Amateur golf tournament. "I was only nervous reading putts. I missed a few of them. But you're not going to read 'em all right and he told me that. He kept trying to tell me 'Don't worry about it, it's not that big of a deal.'"

Fox, who is a junior at the University of Nevada, said Jordan shot around a 76 during his first practice round on Wednesday. Jordan, who was playing with good friend Ahmad Rashad, played another 18 holes later in the day.

WILL SCORING SYSTEM CHANGE AGAIN?

The American Century Championship decided to use the Stableford scoring system for this year's tournament. But some players in the 78-player field don't even know which format will be used since it has already been changed several times.

"It could change tomorrow," said defending champion Dan Quinn, who, along with five-time champion Rick Rhoden, figured to be the two players most affected by the new setup.

"This is, what, the 14th year and there hasn't been a change," joked Rhoden on Wednesday. "The scoring has changed six times in the last two days."

The revised Stableford format will give players +10 points for double eagle, +8 points for a hole-in-one, +6 for an eagle, +3 for a birdie, +1 for par, 0 for bogey and -2 for double bogey or higher. Earlier in the week, no points were going to be awarded for pars and -1 for bogeys.

The only other major tournament on the Celebrity Players Tour that uses the Stableford is Mario Lemieux's celebrity tournament. The only difference between the two tournaments is that players get 5 points at Lemieux's event for an eagle and they get six at the ACC.

RAY ALLEN DOESN'T NEED A CADDY

Seattle Supersonics guard and NBA all-star Ray Allen apparently doesn't make enough money to hire a caddy. The 6-foot-5 Allen, who also starred in Spike Lee's 'Who Got Game?,' carried his golf bag for his entire practice round on Wednesday.

QUINN STILL THE FAVORITE

Two-time defending ACC champion Dan Quinn is listed as a 6-5 favorite by Caesars Tahoe for this year's event. Five-time winner Rick Rhoden is listed at 7-5, followed by Al Del Greco and Jack Wagner, who are both at 6-1. Some of the other players below Quinn and Rhoden are suddenly good bets because of the new Stableford scoring system.