GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers will be back at the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe next month. Whether he’s able to calm his nerves on the first tee remains to be seen.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback is among the celebrities confirmed for the annual charity golf tournament, scheduled for July 19-24, according to the list of entrants on the event’s website. He finished 27th in last year's tournament. Rodgers’ former teammate, linebacker A.J. Hawk, will also be participating.
Rodgers played in his first American Century tournament in 2005, a few weeks after the Packers took him with the 24th overall pick in that year’s NFL draft. And he seems to be handling his nerves just fine in recent years. He’s finished 27th each of the past two tournaments and was a career-best 22nd in 2013. He finished in 58th place in his first tournament and had never finished higher than 32nd before his three-year run of success.
Last month, Rodgers told Hawk on his podcast, “The HawkCast,” that playing in such celebrity golf events makes him far more nervous than football ever does -- especially when he has spectators around him at the tee box or lining the fairway awaiting his shot.
“That gets me 10 times more nervous than the first snap in a game or a snap in the fourth quarter when you’ve got to make a play,” said Rodgers, who earlier this year played a round with President Barack Obama, retired astronaut Mark Kelly and Pardon the Interruption’s Tony Kornheiser.
Rodgers said his biggest fear is hitting a fan with an errant shot, something he thinks he may have done once.
“[I’m thinking] ‘Anywhere on the club face, anywhere up in the air so I don’t hit somebody,’” Rodgers said. “I think I hit somebody at Pebble Beach when I played in the pro-am a couple years ago. But I’ve been pretty lucky so far.”
