Wagner Holds First-Day Lead at American Century Championship

Friday, July 15, 2011

South Shore, Lake Tahoe, Nev. – Actor Jack Wagner made seven birdies and scored 29 points Friday to hold a 5-point lead over Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chandler after the first round of the American Century Championship. The 54-hole celebrity event uses a Stableford scoring system that awards graduated points for pars or better.

Wagner, the 2006 winner who has played in all 21 previous Tahoe celebrity events, shot a 3-under-par 69 over 6,865-yard Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. But he didn’t want to get ahead of himself and think about better his second-place finish of a year ago.

“It’s only the first day,” said Wagner. “When you shoot under par, everything is going pretty good for you. And when you make a few putts early, it can really build your confidence for the whole day. I birdied the first two holes from 15 and 20 feet today.”

Roenick, a former NHL All-Star, had two birdies and an eagle on his final nine holes to help boost his total while Chandler, a retired NFL quarterback and the 2007 winner, was a quick starter like Wagner, with four birdies on his first nine holes.

“This is my favorite week of the year,” said the nine-time All-Star center Roenick after the round. “I worked hard to stay mentally strong today. I could have lost it a couple of times, but I hung in there. I grew today as a golfer and as a person. This is as hard as I can remember this course playing.”

Defending champion Billy Joe Tolliver had just 14 points, and pre-tournament favorite Tony Romo birdied two of his final three holes to finish with 19.

“I putted just terrible today,” said Romo, who was paired with Michael Jordan and John Elway. “But, hopefully I was able to get back into it with the last couple holes.”

Crowd favorite Charles Barkley and rookie Jimmer Fredette were among the low finishers with minus 30 points.

By Craig Smith, former director of media relations for the U.S. Golf Association.