It’s difficult to consider the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship a serious golf tournament with Charles Barkley in the field threatening to maim or injure unsuspecting fans with an errant shot or jerky swing.
There are however a couple of interesting storylines at this year’s event held annually in Lake Tahoe.
Annika Sorenstam retired from competitive play on the LPGA Tour in 2008, with 72 career titles, including 10 women’s major championships. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003 and remains one of the most visible faces in women’s golf.
Sorenstam played one event with the men on the PGA Tour at the 2003 Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas. She missed the cut, but showed the world that the top woman golfer was not too far behind the best male golfers.
Earlier this year Sorenstam accepted an invitation to play in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship and she will be the only woman in the field once again.
She and her husband Mike McGee have a home in the area and evidently the daily grind of running several successful businesses and appearing on television golf shows doesn’t provide enough challenge for her.
Another story coming out of the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship this week is that an Iraqi war veteran and amputee is leading the tournament after the first round.
Chad Pfeifer was a star athlete in high school and played four years of collegiate baseball. He enlisted in the Army after graduation and volunteered for the Airborne Infantry.
In 2007, while on patrol in Iraq, an IED exploded directly under his vehicle and when he awoke in a military hospital he has lost his left leg below his knee.
Pfeifer found the game of golf and has become a scratch player with hopes of someday reaching the PGA Tour.
He leads the Stableford scoring system which awards points for pars, birdies and eagles, with 24 points.
Pfeifer’s real scorecard included four birdies, two bogeys and 12 pars, which would have yielded a two-under-par 70 for his first 18 holes.
Sorenstam finished her first round with 21 points, three behind Pfeifer.
Golf fans want to see Annika beat the men, but everyone has to be pulling for the Iraq war veteran Pfeifer to win and get one step closer to his goal of becoming a PGA Tour member.
By the way, Charles Barkley is not last but is No. 85 in the 86-player field.
We love you Sir Charles, but you might do better with tennis.