The American Century Championship Celebrity Golf Tournament that takes place every July at the Edgewood Golf and Resort in South Lake Tahoe bills itself as the “top celebrity golf tournament anywhere.”
And for years it was in conversation, along with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am every February on the Monterey Peninsula. At its height, I would always side with Pebble as the mixture of the professionals along with A list celebrities taking over the Monterey Peninsula for a week was the winner.
But once the AT&T became a PGA Tour Signature Event in search of a top-notch field of professionals, essentially putting to rest what was known as the Crosby Clambake, the American Century became the end all for celebrity golf.
The tournament was bought into the party scene and have turned the par 3, 17th hole into a lakeside version of the 16th hole at the Waste Management Open. Boats and party goers make up the entire right side of hole, along with amazing view that Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
And for the ACC, it’s almost the party begins when the golf ends each day.
Tournament week runs July 9-13 of this year, and once again is loaded of players from the entertainment and sports world.
Every year the ACC people bring out a celebrity or an athlete to spend a day with the media, about a month before the tournament.
This year was a special year as the guest was actor Brian Baumgartner, better known for his time as Kevin from the sensational comedy The Office.
I was lucky to have Baumgartner as one of my lunch table guests. Talking with him at lunch, then listening to him during the official press conference, one thing came to mind – what you see is what you get.
Having seem him outside of The Office over the years and he always seemed like a neighbor you could have a beer with, shooting the breeze in your driveway.
And that is exactly what you get. It’s no wonder Kevin was one of the characters people liked the most on the show.
Once he was done chatting with the people on site at Edgewood, he was jumped into a Zoom call with former professional tennis player and ACC defending champion Mardy Fish and former NBA player Vinny Del Negro.
Also joining at that point were media members from around the country.
The three engaged in some banter and took question. Following are excerpts from the transcript.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Hi, guys.
MARDY FISH: What did you shoot today?
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: I shot a lot of reporters’ questions down. That’s what I shot today. I think I hit two shots on 17 and, well, tried to make a putt on 18 for the people here.
MARDY FISH: Tried. You tried to?
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Listen, Mardy ‑‑ I’ve got to tell you guys a story about Mardy. Mardy and I were partners at this event in Las Vegas a while ago. Mardy’s, with no disrespect to Mr. Del Negro, who is on the call, many consider ‑‑ not me ‑‑ but many consider Mardy Fish the greatest current celebrity golfer. He was my teammate. We also had Michael Phelps on our team, four‑up through 11 holes and we lost. Comments, Mardy?
MARDY FISH: And we lost to girls, too, can you believe that? We lost to Michelle Wie ‑‑ she’s pretty good ‑‑ and Ms. Kira. So, I don’t feel like that was a bad loss. I felt like 4‑up was pretty good especially with you on our team.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: I’ve already been told that before I’m even standing here now, I’ve done 12 more interviews than you did your day here. So, pipe down, Mr. Fish. Pipe down.
VINNY DEL NEGRO: I have two questions, one for Brian. Brian, I enjoyed your appearance on “Suits.”
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Thank you. I don’t see a question there but thank you very much.
VINNY DEL NEGRO: I was flicking through one night and saw you and I was, like, there’s my guy and you did a great job and congrats on that. It was cool.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Thank you, I appreciate that. NBC just canceled it, Vinny, so let’s not talk about that anymore. It was a great period in my life that lasted 11 episodes but thank you.
VINNY DEL NEGRO: I said I thought you did a great job.
Question: Brian, we know you so well from “The Office.” Is the ACC a chance to show off a different side of one of your passions? We know your comedy so well. To me this is great because we can see your competitive side. And the second question I hope you can answer, keeping the pattern of stories you’ve never told before. I thought I heard but I couldn’t find it, Brian, some story from “The Office” regarding pro wrestling or MMA. I can’t find the details. I know you have a friendship with the Miz, but I thought that was some untold gem there from the show.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: I can make jokes about redefining myself at the American Century and not being comedic. There’s probably a lot of material there.
I think in truth, a serious answer to your question is I absolutely think that this event for me ‑‑ two things, one, helped redefine me or reintroduce me or show me in a different way to fans across the country of the show.
I say this with humility, I think there’s a lot of people out here and on television who watch this tournament ‑‑ and part of what makes it so special is Vinny and Mardy, they’re great players, and people want to see great golf.
I think also for myself, there is the idea of an ordinary guy, an every‑man guy who maybe a few times around hits a really great shot that makes people feel like they’re a part of this too. Not that I’m putting myself as the representative for everybody watching.
But I do think that’s part of what makes this special. You see people who have struggled publicly with golf, like Charles or Larry the Cable Guy or Ray or whoever else. I think that’s part of what makes the event so spectacular.
I don’t know why they don’t pair me with Mardy and Vinny in the first round every year. I think that’s a mistake. But at least being out here together is part of what makes it so special.
As to the MMA question, I truthfully have no idea what that means, so I’m just going to pass. I really can’t answer it. I’ve never been in the ring. As many people have wanted to fight me, I’ve never been in the ring.
Question: Mardy, obviously here in the Bay Area I have a lot of Steph Curry fans in my readership, my audience. I’m curious, two questions, first, what that vibe was like two years ago when you and he dueled down the stretch, how much you maybe missed that last year and looking forward to it this year.
MARDY FISH: No doubt. We play a lot of golf now, even away from the ACC as well. We’ve become real close. That was a fun day because we both played well. He, obviously two eagles and the walk‑off eagle ‑‑ the eagle on 4 and the walk‑off eagle on 18 ‑‑ it was such a great day for the tournament as well.
We felt like there were a lot of, that sort of Saturday and Sunday, there were a lot of great highlights I feel like that will be played ‑‑ his hole‑in‑one on 7 on Saturday and obviously the walk‑off on 18 on the last day.
We had a blast. We always have a blast when we play together. That was the best he played there for sure. I know he desperately wanted to play well. And he did.
We missed him last year. Obviously, he had some business to take care of and get the Olympics thing out of the way, because I did that, too, and was able to go a few times but only went once to kind of get the experience. I’m glad he did that. Now back to American Century again and back to Edgewood and where he belongs, I think.
VINNY DEL NEGRO: I would just like to say a couple years ago when Steph won it ‑‑ and I’ve talked to Mardy about this, Mardy was a class act the way he handled everything in that situation at the end and huge crowds with Steph, and Mardy’s first class all the way. But that showed who he is and what he’s about. I just wanted to throw that out there. It was really a cool thing Mardy did and how he did that.
MARDY FISH: Thanks, Vinny. Check’s in the mail, by the way. (Laughter).
Question: Mardy, you mentioned you play with Steph a lot. One, what are those matches like? And it leads into my next question about; you play a lot of these events. You get a good sense for it. How good can Steph be as a golfer, especially when he stops playing basketball and maybe devotes more time to it?
MARDY FISH: No doubt. He could be really good. He can move it. He’s got crazy speed. What impresses me the most about him and I’m sure a lot of people is the fact that he’ll go play the Lakers and score 45 points and then the next morning he’ll come out to Bel‑Air Country Club and shoot 70 pretty easily. It’s like two completely different skill sets. One is a pure athleticism skill ‑‑ obviously he uses his touch and feel with his game. But for the most part basketball is a lot of athleticism and strength and skill.
Then he comes and plays a completely different sport where it’s hand‑eye coordination, it’s hands and feel and touch and stuff, and he’s just as good as that ‑‑ well, not just as good but he’s pretty good.
That’s the impressive part about him is kind of doing that.
And Austin Reaves is fairly similar as well to that, that type where Austin will go out and score 30 and then come out to Hillcrest Country Club or Bel‑Air or something like that with me and shoot 2‑under, 3‑under par. It’s really impressive.
Question: Any good story, what’s your best story playing with Steph away from Tahoe?
MARDY FISH: We played a bunch of places he had me at his place, Cal Club, which is a beautiful club in San Francisco, and, gosh, we played he ‑‑ we played one round where it was like it was probably ‑‑ I grew up in Florida playing golf so windy conditions always ‑‑ 20 miles an hour is normal there. It was probably blowing 50 miles an hour at this place.
He had a par‑4, where it was a little sort of a table length in between two bunkers that shot up the middle of the par‑4, and it was dead downwind, he hit 3‑wood and hit it directly between the bunkers, rolled all the way up, drilled the pin right in the middle of it and stopped like that far away [indicating] for a 2. He can do it all. And people say LeBron is the chosen one or maybe LeBron says LeBron is the chosen one. Steph Curry is the chosen one. He’s pretty impressive.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Did you enjoy all those questions about getting to play with Steph Curry to make you feel cool.
MARDY FISH: I loved playing with Steph Curry. Have you ever played with Steph Curry.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Did it make you feel cool? You played with me a lot. Why don’t you talk about those rounds, Mardy.
MARDY FISH: We don’t get paired very often. You know what, here’s the thing with me and Brian. Brian and I are like usually ‑ we’re, like, on the practice range, on the range before our rounds pretty much the same time except Brian’s teeing off on 10 and we’re teeing off No. 1.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Wow. That’s kind of an inside baseball joke, but I got it, Mardy. Thank you.
MARDY FISH: You’re welcome. Love you.
Question: Vinny, anybody who was at the tournament in 2021 will remember what a special victory that was. And the press conference after, I’ll never forget that. I’m just curious, do you think maybe this year you could actually recapture that magic and win the tournament again?
VINNY DEL NEGRO: There’s always the possibility with the Stableford system. I was very fortunate that year. Few bounces went the right way, and for some reason putted a little better than I usually do. And that’s what you have to do and make birdies.
I haven’t played a lot of golf the last few years with some injuries ‑‑ shoulder, back and knee. Just trying to get back into it, get the swing back, go out there have fun and let it fly a little bit.
Mardy and these guys are playing year‑round, they’re playing in tournaments. They’re great players.
Question: Mardy, sounds like you play a lot of golf with Steph already. But I mean, you know what his game’s like. Do you think you’ve got any kind of an edge, though, because you’re retired and he isn’t?
MARDY FISH: Do I have an edge or does he have an edge?
Question: Do you have an edge because you’re retired?
MARDY FISH: I feel I have an edge because I feel like I’m better than him.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: That’s the kind of talk I like. That’s the kind of talk we’ve been waiting for, Mardy!
MARDY FISH: Steph plays more golf than you think. Steph plays more golf than you think. Steph easily plays more golf than I do.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Isn’t he semi‑retired this year because of his early playoff exit? Nobody tell him. I like him. Nobody tell him I said that.
MARDY FISH: The Timberwolves took them down too, which hurt him. No, Steph’s is in Scotland right now playing 36 holes a day every day for the next ‑‑ that will be more golf than I played all year. No, he plays a lot of golf. He’s going to be fine.