SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Nev. -- Rick Rhoden, the former Major League Baseball pitcher and renowned celebrity golfer who had playing privileges on the PGA Champions Tour in 2006, will compete in the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in 2007 after a one-year ineligibility layoff.

The tournament is scheduled for next week, July 13-15, at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Lake Tahoe, NV. It will be televised by ESPN on Friday and by NBC on Saturday and Sunday.
A six-time winner of the prominent, nationally-televised (NBC) celebrity event, Rhoden was not invited to compete in 2006 due to precedent and competitive fairness -- he had earned limited Champions Tour playing privileges at Qualifying School for the over-50 tour in the fall of 2005. The former standout hurler for the Yankees, Dodgers, Pirates and Astros was unable to retain his Champions Tour status for the 2007 season and thus regained his eligibility for invitation to the 18 year-old American Century Championship.

“Rick Rhoden is a world-class professional golfer and we are proud that his American Century Championship experience helped him fulfill his dream of competing at the top of the sport as a card-carrying Champions Tour player,” said Jon Miller, Executive Vice President, NBC Sports, which owns and operates the annual Lake Tahoe competition. “He’s been tough to beat over the years at Tahoe, but several of the celebrities have done it and the battle will be joined again this July.”

Precedent was set during the 1990s, when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback John Brodie was ineligible for invitation to the celebrity tournament while he was playing on the Senior PGA Tour. Brodie won one tour event, copping the Senior Pacific Championship in 1991, defeating Chi Chi Rodriguez and George Archer in a playoff. After retiring from the Senior PGA Tour, he was invited to the American Century Championship and notched top-five finishes in 2000 and 2001.

A resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Rhoden won the American Century Championship five times in the 1990s and again in 2003, pocketing $812,289 in prize money with the titles plus a host of top five finishes. He turned 50 on May 16, 2003, and accepted sponsor exemptions to Champions Tour events but always set aside the Lake Tahoe week to reprise his role as favorite. In November, 2005, he came in 12th at Champions Tour Q School and earned provisional playing privileges for the ’06 season. He competed in 15 tournaments last year and has started 30 overall, winning $335,199. He does not have playing privileges for the ’07 season but is playing this weekend in the U.S. Senior Open as an alternate qualifier.
“I’m lucky to be invited to the American Century Championship,” said the two-time All-Star pitcher, who enjoyed a 17-year Major League Baseball career. “It’s one of the top tournaments in pro golf and the playing spots are highly coveted.”

“The competition at the American Century Championship and on the Celebrity Players Tour definitely helped me in terms of tournament readiness,” continued Rhoden, who had three top 10 finishes on the Champions Tour. “Still, whether it is Tom Kite, Craig Stadler and Hale Irwin or Billy Jo Tolliver, Mario Lemieux, Dan Quinn and John Elway, it doesn’t matter if you don’t put up a low score.” Tolliver (twice), Lemieux and Quinn (three times) are former American Century Championship winners and Elway is a perennial contender.

This past January, Rhoden had back surgery to repair lingering damage to three ruptured discs from a 2002 car accident and has been relatively pain-free since returning to the golf course in March.

Annually, the American Century championship features big-name sports and entertainment celebrities, including Michael Jordan, Donald Trump, Elway, Ben Roethlisberger, Taylor Hicks, Matt Lauer, Dennis Quaid, Charles Barkley and 70 other sports and entertainment stars. Winning the 54-hole, event and its $125,000 first prize ($600,000 total prize money) is a grind, however, with former NHL great Lemieux, former NFL quarterback Tolliver and former NHL star Quinn among those who have bested Rhoden over the years. The defending champion is television and movie actor Jack Wagner.

The event is sponsored by American Century Investments, a premier investment manager serving investment professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors.

For further information, contact:
Steve Griffith Phil Weidinger
Pyramid Public Relations Weidinger PR
T: (212) 643-1068 ext. 250 T: (775) 588 2412
C: (484) 433 7757 C: (775) 815 3993
Steve Arocho
Pyramid Public Relations
T: (212) 643-1068 ext. 353; C: (718) 614 3487