For over 30 years, The American Century Championship has brought golf, celebrity and community service together in Lake Tahoe and this year, they plan to continue the tradition in an effort to fundraise for COVID-19 relief, only this year there will be no spectators.
From July 8th through July 12th, Stephen Curry, Aaron Rodgers, Charles Barkley and two-time defending champion, Tony Romo, are among the 80 sports and entertainment figures planning to compete in the charity golf tournament.
Officials say all spectators and volunteers will be following the Center for Disease Control's COVID-19 guidelines.
All prize monies will be donated to COVID-19 relief and area no-profits. Over the years, officials say the fundraiser has brought in five million dollars.
Officials decided to move forward with the original event dates because tourism will start to pick up again once everything begins to reopen amid the pandemic. Also, officials say they wanted to make sure all celebrities would be available to participate.
"Once our due diligence established that the tournament could be conducted safely, we were compelled to do everything possible to go forward in support of our friends in the Lake Tahoe resort community, who has hosted the event for 30 years," said American Century Investments CEO, Jonathan Thomas. "The American Century Championship remains a prominent brand-building even that provides a platform for us to tell a national television audience about how our firm is having a positive impact on society. Also, we're excited to bring a live, competitive sporting event to TV viewers, something that has been deeply missed over the past few months."
"The event has a tremendous tradition and is critical to that beautiful resort region," said Romo as he expressed his support for the event. "It'll be fun to try to win again but the sense of community and charity fundraising will be most important."
NBC and tournament partners are Edgwood Tahoe and host hotels have all come together to develop a COVID-19 health and safety plan that includes enhanced cleaning protocols at both the course and hotels, on-course sanitation stations and restrictions on large organized dinners and event events. Officials say only the celebrities and essential tournament staff will be allowed on the course and everyone will have to follow social distancing guidelines.
(American Century Investments contributed to this report.)
