Bartkowski leads celebrity

STATELINE -- Former NFL quarterback Steve Bartkowski heads a crowded field at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the 2003 American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course Friday.

Bartkowski, a 12-year NFL veteran who has played in all 14 celebrity golf tournaments at Edgewood, shot the low score of the day with a +27 on the new Stableford Scoring Format.

However, Bartkowski doesn't have much room for comfort. Eight other players, including two-time defending champion Dan Quinn, are six points or less behind the lead.

As play on Friday showed, that could be made up in one hole.

The Stableford format, which is being used for the first time at the tournament, assigns points to the score a player gets on each hole. For example, a par is a +1, a birdie is +3, a bogey is 0, and a double bogey is -2. Because a double bogey is the worst possible score used in the system, it should keep more players in contention for the final round on Sunday because one bad hole isn't as detrimental as with stroke play.

For the most part, the difference in scoring seems to be minimal. If the tournament was still using stroke-play, Bartkowski would still be in the lead with a four-under 68.

Bartkowski said that he didn't change his strategy because of the new system.

"I didn't play any different than if it was stroke-play," he said. "Some guys, maybe they will; but me, I won't. It's still golf."

NHL star Brett Hull, who is 2 points behind Bartkowski with a +25, agreed.

"I just played like a regular round. I figured that the more aggressive you get, the more chances there are for horrendous errors," Hull said. "And when you play your own game, you're ready to hit those shots that you hit every day when you play."

Although Hull didn't play any different, he definitely benefitted from the scoring system when he eagled the par-five 18th hole, adding 6 points to his score.

"I had been driving it real good that whole side," said Hull, who started his round from the 10th tee. "I ripped a driver just to the right of the trees. I had 180 (yards) to the flag. I took an 8 (iron) and made a good normal pass at it and knocked about 6 feet and holed it out. You just make one of those and it gives you a little piece of mind."

John Elway, who is only 6 points behind Bartkowski with a +21, also added six points to his score on the par-four second hole.

"For that format, it gets you a nice little start, getting six points after the second hole," Elway said. "That kind of got me going."

Joining Elway, who has played in the tournament every year, and Hull, who has played in it for 10, near the top of the leaderboard are some more of the tournament regulars, including Quinn (+26), 2000 champion Al Del Greco (+26), 1994 champion Dick Anderson, and actor Jack Wagner. Former pitcher Rick Rhoden, who has won the tournament a record five times, had a disappointing round. Rhoden shot a +15 and is tied with players like Mark McGwire and Marshall Faulk for 19th.

Quinn, the former NHL star who was a 6-5 favorite to win the tournament, birdied holes two through four and played steady the rest of the way to put himself in comfortable position for the last two rounds.

Quinn, who would have shot a 69 with stroke play, doesn't think the new scoring format will affect his chances to "three-peat."

"I think at the end of the day, the end of 54 holes, whoever plays the best will win. That said, there's some exciting things that can occur and probably will occur between now and then," he said.

Bartkowski, has a similar mindset.

"The intriguing thing about the Stableford (scoring) is that you can make up a lot of ground in a hurry."

And with so little separating the leaderboard, Bartkowski will have his hands full staying on top.

Notes: The most popular group of the day was the trio of Michael Jordan, Elway and Mario Lemieux. Jordan is tied for 45th with a score of +5. Lemieux, who won the tournament in 1998, is three points ahead of Jordan...The worst score of the day belonged to comedian and former Monday Night Football commentator Dennis Miller. Miller, who didn't manage to get a par for his whole round, shot a score of -26, only 10 points ahead of the worst round possible. Charles Barkley, whose swing is uglier than his three-point shot, is only one point ahead of Miller with a -25...The course appears to be playing a little easier than last year when Quinn won with a three-under for the $500,000 tournament. Quinn shot a three-under on Friday alone. He said that the lack of wind, which usually picks up on Edgewood in the early afternoon to wreak havoc on golfers, was the main difference this year. Elway said that the greens have improved, and that was probably the difference in his score. "I think the greens are better this year. They are not nearly as spongy or bouncy as they have been in the past."