Predictions for Patrick Mahomes, Steph Curry, Top Stars at American Century Golf

It hasn't been that long since Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry have faced off on a golf course. On June 29, Mahomes and Chiefs teammate Travis Kelce defeated Curry and Warriors teammate Klay Thompson in the eighth edition of Capital One's The Match.

Now, Mahomes and Curry are set to compete on the greens again.

Those two will be among the near 90 participants in this year's American Century Championship, an annual celebrity golf tournament that occurs each summer at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nev. The 2023 edition of the three-round event will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Curry will again be joined by his father, Dell, and his brother, Seth, while Mahomes will be accompanied by Kelce.

The 54-hole tourney utilizes a modified Stableford scoring format in which golfers receive points for how they fare on each hole. The total purse for the event is $600,000, with $125,000 of that going to the winner.

Former NFL quarterback and Fox broadcaster Tony Romo is the defending champion, and he'll be looking to repeat this year. He's fared well at the tournament in recent years, as he was also victorious in both 2018 and 2019.

Among the other former champions in this year's field are former NBA head coach Vinny Del Negro (2021), former tennis player Mardy Fish (2020), former MLB pitcher Mark Mulder (2015, 2016, 2017) and actor/singer Jack Wagner (2006, 2011).

Curry has never won the American Century Championship, but he's finished in fourth three times. However, he ended up further down the leaderboard last year, when he placed 16th.

Meanwhile, Mahomes is coming off a 51st-place showing in the 2022 tourney.

Although Mahomes defeated Curry in The Match 8, the Warriors point guard is the better golfer of the two. And that should show during the American Century Championship, when everybody is playing solo.

Don't expect either Curry or Mahomes to win this event, though. There are too many other strong golfers for either to end up atop the leaderboard. However, Curry should rebound from his performance last year, and he has a good chance to even end up back inside the top five.

Other top golfers to watch should be Mulder (who was the runner-up last year), Fish, former LPGA golfer Annika Sorenstam and Carolina Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen. All of them have had strong past showings at the event.

But the favorite to win should once again be Romo. He always competes for the championship at the tournament, except in 2020, when he withdrew due to a wrist injury.

As long as Romo is healthy, he's almost always a lock to finish in the top three. And there's a good chance he'll come away with the championship.

The guess here is that Romo goes back to back, finishing atop a top five that is likely to include Mulder, Sorenstam and Curry, who will get back on track with his golf game. It should be a bounce-back performance for Curry, even if he comes up at least a few points short of his first title.

Romo is too strong at these types of events to be taken down, and the former Dallas Cowboys star will again finish in first place.

Predictions: 1. Romo; 2. Sorenstam; 3. Mulder; 4. Curry.