2017 American Century Championship: Tee times, pairings for Saturday’s round in Tahoe

The setup at the Edgewood Tahoe course for the American Century Championship may not be the most challenging in the country, but some of these pro athletes can still really golf their damn ball. Everyone claims to be an expert on the golf swing, especially on Twitter, but there’s been a common refrain that top athletes can make an easy transition to golf. There can be commonalities in the swing or there’s just some psychotic competitiveness that makes them become good. Whatever it is, a bunch of athletes can work their way to scratch golf and some of them are on top in Tahoe.

The second round of the American Century Championship resets the tee sheet loosely according to the leaderboard. This is a lighter affair, so there are no rigid rules that lock in the pairings according to score and order of finish from the prior day. But there’s a general organization to it that has the players on or near the top of the leaderboard playing in the final few groups. Organizers make sure some of the big names play together to draw the crowds and TV cameras, and everyone who shows up to Tahoe is also comfortable — like Sir Charles Barkley, who is in last place again (but not by a ton this year!) and playing with Kevin Nealon late on Saturday.

The leading groups will go off the opposite of Barkley, playing in threesomes around 10 a.m. PT. The last group of the day features Derek Lowe, Aaron Rodgers, and Joe Pavelski. Lowe leads with 25 points (this event has the underused but always great stableford system of scoring) and Rodgers, who said he played the round of his life on Friday, is three back of that. The Northern California QB will definitely draw the crowds in that final tee time, but the biggest cluster of people trudging after a threesome may be a hole or two ahead.

TV: NBC, 3 to 6 p.m. ET

Streaming:

SB Nation Facebook Live, 2 p.m. ET

NBC Sports Live and Live Extra on mobile, 3 to 6 p.m. ET

The headline trio is definitely Stephen Curry, Justin Timberlake, and Tony Romo. They go off at 9:50 a.m. PT and the crowds will swell around them. They should also be featured throughout the 3 to 6 p.m. ET coverage on NBC. Curry is the top draw, given the Tahoe location, but he struggled on Friday. Adding in JT and Romo, two other players who can boast scratch scores, makes this a supercharged tee time.

NBC will have the coverage at 3 p.m. ET and SB Nation will have another live show up on Facebook Live leading into that at 2 p.m. ET. A complete viewing guide with streaming options is here. And here’s the full tee sheet for the second round at Edgewood Tahoe (all times Pacific):