Former major league pitcher overtakes Quinn to win seventh American Century (w/slideshow)

STATELINE — When Rick Rhoden really needed a birdie on Sunday, he was able to roll one in.

It didn’t matter that his duck-hooked drive nearly landed out of bounds on the final hole. The former All-Star pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers hit a recovery shot, pitched out of the rough within six feet of the pin, then drained the slick putt to claim his seventh American Century Championship title. It was his first championship since 2003 and culminated a record-setting week at the 19-year-old event.

“All I wanted was a chance on the last hole, a chance to make a putt. I couldn’t have asked for a better chance,” said Rhoden, who collected the $125,000 first prize to raise his career earnings in the event to $997,289.

Rhoden knew the putt was going in as soon as he hit it, giving him a one-point victory (68-67) over retired NHL player Dan Quinn in the Stableford scoring format. Quinn watched the putt from the back of the 18th green; his only reaction when the putt disappeared was to lower his head and spit.

Rhoden only had an opportunity to win with a birdie after four-time champion Quinn scrambled to par the 18th hole at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.

For most of the 54-hole tournament, Rhoden was staring down birdie putts, but time after time he came up empty.

“I hit the ball from tee to green, except for the last few holes (Sunday), probably almost as good I’ve done here. I putted bad. I didn’t even come close to making some putts,” said the 17-year participant.

As it was, Rhoden’s second birdie of the final round didn’t come until the 17th hole. He ran in a crucial nine-foot attempt that kept him with a point of Quinn, who nearly aced the 17th hole moments earlier, tapping in the one-footer to reach 66 points.

“I don’t know what happened the last couple holes, when I had to make them, it’s almost like I relaxed. You’ve got to make them, or it’s over anyways, and I hit two good putts,” Rhoden said.

Even though a backup on the 18th tee delayed Quinn’s final tee ball by 10 minutes, he drilled it down the right side of the fairway. But a couple of noisy kids caused him to back away from his next attempt, and when he finally stroked the 205-yard shot, it gave new hope to Rhoden and Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo.

Quinn’s ball glanced off a pine limb and landed to the right of the cart path in some heavy sand. Quinn initially considered chipping out into the fairway, but then decided to play an aggressive shot over a tree guarding the front of the 18th green.

“I could have made seven once I decided to go for it off the beach,” Quinn said. “Go look at that beach where I hit that third shot from, that was a pretty good shot.”

Quinn got the desired results of his risky play as this third stroke landed off the back of the green. He used two putts for par, but was upset that he didn’t force Rhoden to make eagle on the 18th hole to win it.

“I’m not consoling myself. Actually I’m still pissed that I didn’t birdie the last hole to win,” said Quinn, who shot a final-round 68. “I’m pretty proud that I was able to rock off some birdies today and caught everybody.”

Rhoden entered the final round with a two-point lead over Romo, but the Cowboys’ star seized the lead on No. 7 when he rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt and Rhoden three-putted from 30 feet for bogey. But a bogey on the next hole gave Rhoden a share of the lead, and Romo was unable to make anything happen over the final nine.

The turning point may have been on No. 13 when Romo three-putted from 10 feet for bogey, while Rhoden executed a lengthy up and down from the bottom of the green for par to increase his lead to two points, 59-57.

Still, Rhoden came away impressed with the second-year participant.

“You can tell he’s played some golf,” Rhoden said. “You have to get some of these under your belt. It’s tough for me, and I’ve been doing it for quite a while. If he would have played two or three tournaments coming up to this, I’ll tell you he would be real tough to beat because he has a good game.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he wins a few of these and wins one pretty soon.”

Romo improved from 11th last year to third on Sunday. He needed an eagle on the final hole but settled for a birdie to finish in a tie with Grant Fuhr at 64 points.

Rhoden also posted the lowest 54-hole medal play score, shooting a 3-under 213. Quinn was next at 215.

For the second straight year, the six-day event attracted a record number of spectators. Tournament media room director Phil Weidinger said attendance figures exceeded 31,000.

For more information, see the official Web site: TahoeCelebrityGolf.com

Despite the smoke-filled skies surrounding the Lake Tahoe Basin, the American Century Championship managed to attract a record 31,226 spectators during the week-long event that began on Tuesday at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, tournament officials said today.

The previous record was more than 27,000, set in 2007.

ACC final round scores

Final Results

at Edgewood Tahoe GC

Rick Rhoden 23-22-23—68

Dan Quinn 17-22-28—67

Tony Romo 23-20-21—64

Grant Fuhr 21-16-27—64

Jack Wagner 18-19-25—62

Brett Hull 25-12-25—62

Pierre Larouche 23-18-21—62

Mark Rypien 23-16-21—60

Jeremy Roenick 26-15-18—57

Lawrence Taylor 18-21-15—54

John Elway 10-27-17—54

Carlton Fisk 19-16-17—52

Sterling Sharpe 19-12-21—52

Chris Chandler 17-18-16—51

Dick Jauron 21-13-17—51

Joe Sakic 14-18-18—50

Vince Coleman 22-13-15—50

Al Del Greco 14-16-18—48

Jerry Rice 22-13-12—47

Bret Saberhagen 21-14-11—46

Mike Schmidt 19-14-11—44

Steve Bartkowski 9-18-16—43

Billy Joe Tolliver 11-11-18—40

Mario Lemieux 13-12-15—40

Dale Jarrett 10-18-10—38

Jeff Feagles 12-9-16—37

Wally Szczerbiak 15-8-14—37

Tim Brown 19-5-12—36

Kenny Lofton 10-9-15—34

Lucas Black 10-14-10—34

Ray Allen 8-14-12—34

Joe Theismann 5-11-16—32

Jim McMahon 14-16-2—32

Steve Spurrier 3-11-18—32

Neil Lomax 14-6-8—28

Ben Roethlisberger 12-3-12—27

Vinny Testaverde 10-6-11—27

Joe Buck 7-11-8—26

Maury Povich 5-15-5—25

Dan Jansen 2-9-13—24

Marshall Faulk 6-7-11—24

Alonso Ribeiro -3-15-11—23

Aaron Rodgers 9-5-5—19

Carson Palmer 6-(-4)-13—15

Greg Kinnear 8-9-(-3)—14

Marcus Allen 12-0-2—14

Dan Quayle 7-(-3)-9—13

Wayne Gretzky -2-7-5—10

Kyle Boller -3-6-6—9

Steve Beuerlein -5-14-(-1)—8

Todd Heap 1-5-0—6

Jerome Bettis 1-1-2—4

Rick Reilly -6-5-3—2

Bode Miller -9-4-6—1

John O’Hurley 9-(-10)-0—(-1)

Michael Jordan 0-(-6)-5—(-1)

Ray Romano -4-(-2)-3—(-3)

Mike Shanahan -1-(-3)-0—(-4)

Jason Kidd -9-(-1)-5—(-5)

Mike Eruzione 3-(-5)-(-7)—(-9)

Keenan McCardell 5-(-6)-(-8)—(-9)

Ronde Barber 1-(-9)-(-5)—(-9)

David Wells -12-(-4)-3—(-13)

Jason Taylor -3-(-10)-(-2)—(-15)

Antoine Walker 0-(-8)-(-8)—(-16)

Dennis Haysbert -5-(-7)-(-5)—(-17)

Brandi Chastain -5-(-6)-(-6)—(-17)

Herm Edwards -6-(-2)-(-10)—(-18)

Jonathan Ogden -3-(-7)-(-8)—(-18)

Stone Phillips -6-(-9)-(-5)—(-20)

Janet Gretzky -2-(-11)-(-10)—(-23)

Digger Phelps -3-(-9)-(-17)—(-29)

Emmitt Smith -10-(-8)-(-11)—(-29)

Al Michaels -13-(-5)-(-17)—(-35)

Darryl Strawberry -20-(-17)-2—(-35)

Terence Newman -7-(-9)-(-30)—(-46)

Lou Holtz -11-(-22)-(-13)—(-46)

Brian Baumgartner -18-(-12)-(-16)—(-46)

Trent Green -19-(-21)-(-7)—(-47)

Kevin Nealon -21-(-14)-(-14)—(-49)

Jay Cutler -22-(-15)-(-22)—(-59)

Charles Barkley -23-(-32)-(-26)—(-81)

Gene Upshaw -17-(-16)-WD—WD