TNT's Barkley, Wells to tee it up in celebrity event

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No one has had more fun with Charles Barkley's infamous swing than the world's top-ranked player, Tiger Woods.

The 20th annual American Century Championship -- one of the most prestigious celebrity tournament in golf -- is set to tee off at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Nevada on July 17.

Defending champion Rick Rhoden -- a seven-time winner -- heads the strong field for the 54-hole event, which includes current and former athletes, entertainers and politicians, all of whom must play to a USGA-registered handicap of 10 or less.

For the fourth straight year, the Lance Armstrong Foundation is the official charity of the event. The tournament will help build awareness of the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign, while raising funds for the foundation's cancer survivorship initiatives.

Michael Jordan, Dan Marino, Charles Barkley, Tony Romo, Kenny Lofton, David Wells, Penny Hardaway and comedian Kevin Nealon are among the 75-plus stars scheduled to tee it up.

While the American Century Championship is a fun event that uses the Stableford format, which gives points for a player's result on each hole, it's certainly no joke. The winner will take home $125,000.

Rhoden, a former Major League Baseball pitcher who has also spent time playing golf on the Champions Tour, where he has two career top-10 finishes, is the pretournament favorite with odds of 9-to-5. On the other end of the spectrum, Barkley, a TNT basketball analyst and NBA Hall of Famer, is the biggest of underdogs at 499-to-1.

Barkley, as you may know, has been the featured -- and funny -- pupil in GOLF CHANNEL's "The Haney Project," the popular weekly show on which famed teacher Hank Haney tries to fix Barkley's infamously hitched swing. The jury is still out on how successful Haney, whose other job is teacher to world No. 1 Tiger Woods, actually was in his greatest challenge ever.

Hardaway, a former four-time NBA All-Star who has been playing golf for 11 years now, will be making his debut in the American Century Golf Classic. For Hardaway, what started as a joke quickly became a passion.

"When I was down in Orlando, I had a friend from Memphis -- Randy Wade -- who used to come down to visit me," said Hardaway, who is a 50-to-1 shot to win. "Whenever he'd come he would always go golfing and I'd make fun of him for it. Then he told me that if I ever went with him, I'd fall in love with it. So, I went with him one day and then I was hooked."

Hardaway says he plays between five and six times a week now, splitting time between his two home courses in Memphis, Spring Creek Ranch and TPC Southwind.

So how good is Penny?

"I'm about a 3 handicap," he said. "My lowest score ever was a 69 at Spring Creek Ranch."

While this will be Hardaway's first start in Tahoe, he says it's always been an event he's wanted to play -- the timing has just been off. He will turn 38 years old on July 18 and with the event being played the week of his birthday, Penny preferred to stay away to celebrate in the past.

However, Penny's love of the game has led him to play this week. Well, that, and a little urging from a famous friend.

"I was playing some golf with Michael [Jordan] and he asked me if I'd ever played in Tahoe," Hardaway explained. "I told him I always watched it on TV and always wanted to play, but never had. He told me I should and I figured if there was one good source to get me a spot in the field, he was it."

Given the chance to pile on fellow former-NBAer Barkley's golf game -- or lack thereof -- Penny took the high road.

"I think Chuck is the ultimate competitor," he said. "I think it's sad what happened to his game. Whatever happened to get the game where it is now, knowing how much he loves it, I feel bad for him. So many former professional athletes love to play, so it's tough to see a guy who was really good at one point struggling so badly now.

"I think he'll hit some bad shots and some good shots in Tahoe. It'll all depend on how well he can control the long game."

Nealon, the comedian and actor most well-known for his days at Saturday Night Live and his current role as "Doug" on the hit Showtime series Weeds, will be making his 10th appearance in Tahoe this week.

Unlike Hardaway, Nealon has been around the event long enough to not cut Barkley any slack.

"Barkley's swing is the kind you really can see up close because there are a lot of stops," said Nealon, who, it should be noted, is second only to Barkley in terms of underdogs in Tahoe at 475-to-1. "Take a look, step back, take another look, step back.

"I can only imagine the frustration. But, I'll tell you this, it's amazing the amount of power he can get in those eight inches of real swing he puts on it."

While he loves the game, Nealon admits he doesn't play nearly enough since he's forever busy with projects.

"I've been playing long enough that I should be better than I am," he said. "I'd say I've been playing about 20, 30 years or so, but I don't play often. Sometimes a couple times a year, sometimes a half-dozen times a year. I've never belonged to a club. My home course is a driving range."

If you think it would be difficult to set a goal for a competitive tournament when you play as little as Nealon, you're wrong.

"Don't finish last. That's my goal," he said. "And it shouldn't be hard since Barkley's in the field. He's always at the bottom, so I don't have to worry about that. Barkley is fun to play with; I just pray that he never gets his swing fixed.

"Some of the guys are really serious. I'm there not to finish last. My goal a few years back was to move to the center of pack, but I threw those thoughts out a long time ago. I think I've gotten better, because I'm not finishing last anymore. Chris Webber used to play. Man was he bad. I think even Barkley was beating Webber."

Surprisingly, despite the fact that he rarely gets out to play, Nealon admitted he doesn't get nervous golfing in front of large crowds. He attributes his ease on the course to being laughed at a lot of the time as a comedian.

"People don't expect me to be good," he said. "If I try to be good they think I'm trying to be funny. A friend told me when I was nervous one time, he said, 'If you don't play well, don't worry. The fans will love it because they can say, I'm better than that guy!'"

As for Hardaway, no stranger to playing in front of large audiences, how will he feel when he gets to the first tee with galleries lining the fairways?

"I'm really fired up about it," he said. "Golf is totally different than basketball though. I'll do fine. I think the atmosphere brings some nervous energy. With a basketball it's easy. In golf, you need to ease into it."