American Century Championship (ACC)The 33rd edition is underway at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course outside Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
The ACC is a made-for-TV event that pits some of America's biggest celebrities (52 in 2022) against each other.
It also features one of the sport's most unconventional scoring methods: Modified Stableford, a system rarely used on the PGA Tour and only in alternate events.
Still, it has found a home in one of golf's niche events (one that awards $865,000 in cash and $600,000 to the first-place winner).
For those interested in watching the event, here's how the scoring system works, its history, and its relationship to more traditional stroke play:
The 2022 American Century Championship will use a modified Stableford scoring method throughout 54 holes (three rounds). Like the standard Stableford method, this scoring method awards points based on a golfer's score relative to that hole's fixed score. Unlike stroke play, to win many points.
The name implies that the Stableford scoring method is an edited format. The American Century Championship, entering its 33rd season, used a traditional stroke-play scoring method for its first 14 years; it has used the modified Stableford rules since 2004.
While most professional tournaments use stroke play, the Stableford scoring method is used only at one (alternate) PGA Tour event: the Reno-Tahoe Open, also called the Barracuda Championship. It has used that scoring method since 2012; its most recent use on the PGA Tour was The International in Colorado in 2006.
Frank Barney Gorton Stableford developed the Stableford scoring method to discourage golfers from giving up a round of golf if they have bad holes; it was first used in 1898. In Stableford scoring, the goal is to score as many points as possible, unlike in stroke play, where the goal is to achieve the lowest possible round.
Login To Leave a Comment