STATELINE — If you’ve ever been to the American Century Championship, the par-3 17th hole is the place to be.
The beach is lined with scantily clad women, especially on the weekend, and there are boats galore lining the waterfront. It’s the loudest hole on the course, and liquid refreshment is always available.
The players are usually good sports, tossing footballs with the fans, and there’s usually a basketball hoop attached to one of the boats.
Saturday was a great example of what happens. There was a caddie race, Hines Ward took a shot of Fireball, Justin Timberlake made a basket and Alfonso Ribeiro, Jerry Rice and Timberlake had a dance-off.
Timberlake, armed with some liquid refreshment, missed his first shot but rattled the second one home much to the delight of the hundreds of fans who were seated along the beach or on boats. He then gathered on the tee box and danced with his two playing partners. Nobody can do the “Carlton” like Ribeiro, however.
Ward, after finishing his Fireball, posed with two scantily clad women. Comedian Kevin Nealon and Golf Channel’s Lisa Cornwell were also seen having a drink.
The caddie race always brings a roar from the crowd. Saturday’s race was between A.J. Hawk’s caddie and Brian Baumgartner’s caddie. It was a close race down the fairway. Baumgartner’s caddie had a sight lead, but stumbled in the sand trap, and Hawk’s bag toter fell onto the green.
Some people, unfortunately, can carry things too far.
Some fan made loud noises in the middle of Jack Wagner’s backswing, and the actor shanked one en route to a double bogey which helped drop him into fourth place entering today’s final round.
“It was one of those unfortunate things,” Wagner said after a 20-point day. “I think they escorted him out. Seventeen is a great hole. I have to keep my focus a little more.”
COURSE STATS
The toughest hole in Saturday’s second round at the ACC was the par-4 No. 1 which played to a 4.890 and yielded just one birdie all day.
The easiest hole on Saturday was the par-5 4th which played to a 5.374 and yielded 18 birdies.
According to stats, four eagles were recorded. Two came on 18, one on 16 and one on 11.
CHANGE IN START TIME
The schedule has been moved up an hour for today’s final round.
The first tee times will be at 6:50 a.m., and action should wind up around 2 p.m. The TV schedule remains the same — noon to 3 p.m. on NBC.
Phil Weidinger, tournament spokesman, said the change was made based on the weather report which called for possible afternoon thunderstorms. A year ago, the tournament was delayed because of weather with three holes left to play.
“We want to make sure we get it all in,” Weidinger said.
CHARITY AT THE ACC
Vessel has worked to be the best in custom golf bags, and the company in conjunction with the American Century Championship, is designing a tournament specific Vessel bag, ACC bag and a duffel bag for every celebrity.
The bags will be signed by every celebrity and then auctioned off via social media during the tournament. If you’re interested go to CelebrityGolfBags.com.
Vessel is working with Stowers Institute of Medical Research. The duo raised almost $50,000 last year and hopeed to top that mark this year from bag sales.
Last year, Aaron Rodgers’ bag went for $2,000. The auction is now open and closes July 19 at noon.
Vessel has also developed a program called Buy a Bag Give a Bag, where for every bag that’s sold Vessel donates a bag.
CHIP SHOTS
Eric Gagne used a 3-wood and gap wedge to reach the par-5 18th in two…Charles Barkley remained in next-to-last place with a minus-62, four shots better than Kim Alexis’ 66 … War heroes Chad Pfeifer and Rod Gorman are at 37 and 29, respectively. Pfeifer had 16 on the day and Gorman, after a first-round 21, had just 8 points…Four-time champ Billy Joe Tolliver slumped to a second-day 16 and sits in seventh place.