World Series champion John Smoltz reveals what it takes to win the American Century Championship
Most people know Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz for his prowess on the mound, but the 59-year-old has also become quite the golfer.
Smoltz qualified for the U.S. Senior Open in 2018 and is hoping to do so again this year. He said his game is in the best place it has ever been and credited his health for where it is today.
“The game is in its best place. The goal is you always wish you could play tomorrow when the game is in its best place, but that’s the beauty of golf. You know, you got to have it when it counts,” Smoltz told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
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“The game is at a point now at 59 where I trust some of the things that I can do because I’m physically more able with two new hips and some procedures done. I’m at a point where I know that if I can continue to get a little bit better around the green, I’m going to play the kind of golf I want to play.”
Smoltz will be competing in this year’s American Century Championship, which takes place July 10-12 at Edgewood Golf Course in Lake Tahoe. The Atlanta Braves legend has come close to winning, finishing in second place last year to NHL great Joe Pavelski, but has never won.
The American Century Championship uses a Modified Stableford scoring system rather than traditional stroke play, which means that instead of counting total strokes, players are instead awarded points based on their score for each hole.
An albatross is worth 10 points, a hole-in-one is worth eight points, an eagle is worth six points, a birdie is worth three points, a par is worth one point, a bogey is worth nothing and anything two over par or worse is worth minus two points.
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Smoltz said he has not started nearly fast enough in the first round, forcing him to play catch-up.
“I get off to a slow start. Every tournament I rally second and third round with too big of a hole. I make a ton of pars. It’s so frustrating to say that I make a ton of pars. That would be normally good, but it’s not in this tournament. I think at one point I made 29 pars in a row in one tournament and it was nauseating. It was like I’d rather bite the head of my putter off because you only get one point for a par,” Smoltz said.
Smoltz attributed his slower starts to a conservative mindset and stressed the importance of making birdie putts.
“You get three times the value for a birdie. So, like last year, I think I made seven or eight birdies the last round to finish second. Couldn’t chase down Pavelski, but I’m like, where has that been? Where’s those birdies in the first round?” Smoltz said.
“So, I definitely have to get off to a better start. I kind of am too conservative in a first round of a three-round tournament, which always puts me in the mix, but doesn’t give me the best fighting chance to maximize a round when I’m hitting the ball pretty good.”
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Smoltz played in the American Century Championship in 2000, when he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the whole season, and got permission from his late, legendary manager Bobby Cox to go play.
“I had a sneak preview of it when I was playing. I had Tommy John surgery. I had the greatest manager in the world in Bobby Cox. He let me play because I was out all year and that was when it was stroke play back in the day, when Michael Jordan and all those high-level athletes were playing in stroke play. I did okay. I hung my own,” Smoltz said.
The World Series champion called the event something you mark on your calendar and said it’s a great event.
“American Century is unbelievable. They do a great job putting on the event all these years. It’s a mark on your calendar and nothing-better-get-in-the-way type event. But I think the biggest thing about the golf course and just the whole thing is I get so excited to play and want to win so bad that I have to temper all of that when I get there,” Smoltz said.
The tournament has raised more than $8 million for regional and national charities. American Century Investments donates 40% of its profits to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and activates fundraising at the tournament to drive direct donations to Stowers each year.
The tournament will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
The eight-time All-Star spent 21 seasons in the big leagues, 20 of those with the Braves. He spent his last season with the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox.
Smoltz has a career record of 213-155, an ERA of 3.33 and 154 saves, as he converted to a reliever for a few seasons after his Tommy John surgery.
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