Charles Barkley and Tony Romo are two of the biggest stars in sports media.
That’s not their only connection, though. Both men also really love to play golf, albeit with vastly different degrees of success. Romo has actually won high-level amateur events, and competed in professional tournaments (thanks to various sponsor’s exemptions) without embarrassing himself.
Barkley, on the other hand, famously dealt with an impossibly broken swing for years before finally fixing it to the point that he competed on a version of The Match, teaming with Phil Mickelson to defeat Peyton Manning and Steph Curry. (Side note: that Match was in November of 2020; since then, Phil Mickelson has both won another major and turned into a pariah. It wasn’t even two years ago!)
Now both men will be part of this weekend’s American Century Championship field at Lake Tahoe, one of the biggest celebrity golf events on the calendar.
They’ll be joined by plenty of other big names, too. From the tournament release:
This week, the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament will feature the strongest field from the world of sports and entertainment in the championship’s 33-year history, headlined by Justin Timberlake, Stephen, Dell and Seth Curry, Annika Sorenstam, Patrick Mahomes, Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers, Charles Barkley, defending champion Vinny Del Negro and first-time participants Colin Jost of Saturday Night Live, WWE Superstar The Miz, and singers/songwriters Nick Jonas and Jake Owen.
GOLF Channel, NBC and Peacock will televise coverage Friday-Sunday, July 8-10, with NBC Sports surrounding tournament coverage all week in delivering robust linear and digital coverage.
The coverage is possible thanks to most eyes in the golf world focused on the Scottish Open this week; obviously the time difference means Golf Channel and NBC have plenty of evening inventory to focus on things like a celebrity tournament. Barkley’s new game still might not be enough to contend, but his presence will almost certainly be enough to generate multiple shareable moments, either good or bad. Romo, meanwhile, could very well be able to put a good weekend together.
Here’s the viewing schedule:
Friday, July 8 Peacock, NBC Sports Digital 4-6 p.m. ET / 1-3 p.m. PT (Live)
Friday, July 8 GOLF Channel 7:30-9:30 p.m. ET / 4:30-6:30 p.m. PT
Saturday, July 9 NBC, Peacock 2:30-6 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. PT (Live)
Sunday, July 10 NBC. Peacock 2:30-6 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. PT (Live)
Let’s hope Chuck can shock the world here.
