STATELINE, Nev. — After finishing second last year in a thrilling duel, Mardy Fish might have had a small chip on his shoulder.
But Fish is known for handling his emotions well, as well as having a dry, sarcastic sense of humor.
He made up for last year’s disappointing second-place finish by capturing the title on Sunday in the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe.
He finished with 83 points in the Modified Stableford scoring system, after scoring 26 on Sunday, following a blistering tournament-record 34 points on Saturday.
Joe Pavelski was hot on his heels all week and finished second with 79 points. Annika Sorenstam was third with 68 and John Smoltz finished fourth with 64.
Fish won $150,000 for first place, an increase over previous payouts. Last year Curry won $125,000. Fish’s score was one point off the tournament record of 84 set by Billy Joe Tolliver in 2010.
Fish joked when asked what he would do with the money.
“I mean, I got bills to pay, man. I live in Los Angeles. I have two kids right there that are very expensive,” he said, smiling and pointing to his two children in the media room Sunday. “It kind of shows where the tournament’s going and where it’s headed and continuing to sort of grow the American Century Championship throughout.”
Fish also won the ACC in 2020, when no spectators were allowed at Edgewood. His entire payday that yer was donated to charities around Lake Tahoe.
The start of Sunday’s third round was delayed about a half hour due to rain around Lake Tahoe.
Fish said that delay did not affect him.
“No big deal. “It gives you time to go mingle with your buddies you haven’t seen. I saw Larry Fitz (Fitzgerald), he was coming off No. 9, going to 10. And we were just about to tee off — first time I’d seen him all week. We’re good buddies; he’s a Minnesota boy and so am I,” Fish said. “I was texting with Travis Kelce all week. And he’s, I’m going to find you tomorrow, period. And we had the delay. So you get to kind of see those people that — I don’t see those guys very often other than here or maybe Orlando or something like that.”
Pavelski has announced he will retire from hockey, He played for the San Jose Sharks and then the Dallas Stars.
Having that time off could help his already solid golf game though.
“This is my best showing. I think if I could replicate this here the next few years, if we get the opportunity, hopefully we have a chance to lift that trophy like Fish is doing,” Pavelski said. “Golf is a game I love. Definitely going to be playing, practicing, trying to get a little better at it. But you get in a tournament you never know how fully it’s going to play out.”
The ACC set an attendance record of 77,049 fans over the week.