SI

Sights and Sound Bites From the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe

The celebrity golf tournament is set to kick off Friday, and several NFL figures were willing to chat while getting in a practice round Wednesday.

Gilberto Manzano

Ryan Fitzpatricks plays a practice round before the 2025 American Century Championship.
Ryan Fitzpatricks plays a practice round before the 2025 American Century Championship. / Gilberto Manzano/Sports Illustrated

STATELINE, Nev. — I’ve decided to take on photography as my midlife crisis hobby. It’s either that or run a marathon, but I have bad knees and lower back pain … or I’m just out of shape. 

On the positive side, I’m a recent first-time father, so my dad strength is starting to show itself, which came in handy Wednesday during the first practice round of the American Century Championship, an annual celebrity golf tournament.  

I was tasked with following active and former NFL players around the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course—and I couldn’t resist the urge of stalking NBA star Stephen Curry for a few holes. 

Talking to NFL players is nothing new to me, but this time I was sporting a green photographer’s vest and walked around with a bulky camera that wasn’t on my iPhone. I don’t know much about photography and most of my photos were taken on auto focus, and I also don’t know much about golf. This seemed like the right time to practice my hobby while doing my day job. 

I’m proud to say I didn’t get in anyone’s way and the clicking noise on my camera didn’t go off as participants teed off. (I still need to learn how to turn off the sound on the clicker.) 

I’m also happy to say I didn’t annoy Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, who had a confused look after a photographer told him he’s an Ohio State fan. The photographer followed by saying he’s also a Browns fan, but that didn’t do him any favors.

Mayfield was nice enough to have a walk-and-chat with me. I tried my best to control my breathing in between questions. I don’t know how I did it, but I walked 20,000 steps Wednesday, according to my cell phone. Maybe I will attempt to run a marathon for my 40th birthday in a few years.

Here’s what else I saw and heard from Lake Tahoe.

Mayfield aiming for top 50

Mayfield is a modest man on the golf course. 

He’s coming off a career season in the NFL, throwing for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns, but that didn’t lead him to aiming too high for this year’s American Century Championship. Mayfield couldn’t quite remember what his score was last year, but he’s hoping to improve nonetheless.

“Shooting for top 50, hopefully top 40,” Mayfield said. “Realistic goal, top 50.”

Peterson embraces practice round

My poor golf knowledge didn’t do me any favors when talking to future Hall of Fame cornerback Patrick Peterson, the former longtime standout of the Arizona Cardinals. I asked Peterson for a breakdown of his swing off the tee from hole No. 14, but apparently the ball went into the water. Great timing by me. 

“It was a nice little draw,” Peterson says. “Maybe hit it a little too far. Maybe it got into the water, but it’s a practice round.”

Fun fact: Peterson was the first NFL player I interviewed Wednesday, just like in 2023 during my first year covering the American Century Championship.

Strange Fitzpatrick sequence 

I’m not sure what happened, but I caught former quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick taking a golf ball out of his drink. Maybe that’s something golfers do for strategy, dipping balls into a Bloody Mary. Or someone hit the ball into his drink, who knows.

Regardless of what happened, Fitzpatrick, who played for nine teams, gave me a great answer for the best rivalry currently in the NFL.

“You know, I played in a lot of them [rivalries],” Fitzpatrick says with a smile. “I’m going to go Bills and Chiefs right now. I think that’s the greatest NFL rivalry. You’ve got two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. They seem to meet in the playoffs every single year. The Bills gotta get one soon.” 

A few minutes later, Fitzpatrick smashed a golf ball down the fairway. I know that was a good swing because the A.I. machine on hole 14 said that was the best hit of the day at the time, and it was well past noon. I guess dipping golf balls into beverages works. 

Searching for Rodgers, Allen

There were many Josh Allen Bills jerseys and a few Aaron Rodgers Steelers jerseys, which was strange to see. But I didn’t spot the two quarterbacks on the golf course Wednesday. Maybe I’ll get a few shots of them for the second day of practice on Thursday. 

More NFL on Sports Illustrated

feed

Published
Gilberto Manzano
GILBERTO MANZANO

Gilberto Manzano is a staff writer covering the NFL for Sports Illustrated. After starting off as a breaking news writer at NFL.com in 2014, he worked as the Raiders beat reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and covered the Chargers and Rams for the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News. During his time as a combat sports reporter, he was awarded best sports spot story of 2018 by the Nevada Press Association for his coverage of the Conor McGregor-Khabib Nurmagomedov post-fight brawl. Manzano, a first-generation Mexican-American with parents from Nayarit, Mexico, is the cohost of Compas on the Beat, a sports and culture show featuring Mexican-American journalists. He has been a member of the Pro Football Writers of America since 2017.

Home/NFL