STATELINE, Nev. – For the second time, tennis champion Mardy Fish is walking away a winner of the American Century Championship with the second-highest score in tournament history of 83 points. 

While Fish finished Friday one point behind Adam Thielen, once he took the lead on Saturday, he held on for the rest of the weekend. He scored nine birdies on Saturday, scoring 33 points, the most he’s scored in a day. Fish scored another five birdies on Sunday. 

Just because he stayed in the lead all of Saturday and Sunday, it didn’t mean his first-place position wasn’t in danger, with Joe Pavelski nipping at his heels all of Sunday. 

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Pavelski finished the tournament with 79 points, scoring six birdies on Sunday. 

“We both got off to such solid starts that it felt like [match play] pretty early,” said Pavelski. 

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Fish said he was disappointed in the six pars he scored in a row on the back nine, which gave Pavelski the opportunity to inch even closer.

“For me, it was important to sort of keep him at an arm’s length, it felt like. If he got to two, three, four points, something like that, it’s not much of a lead anymore. That’s like a shot or two,” said Fish. 

On Hole 15, Pavelski scored a birdie, while Fish took a par. However, Fish feels a backup on Hole 16 caused Pavelski to lose his thunder. 

“Sitting there on 16 having the long wait… kind of 45 minutes, 50 minutes to kind of wait. He had birdied 15. So it sort of slowed his momentum down a little bit. He was fired up from making that,” said Fish. 

Fish hit a great drive on Hole 16 and birdied the hole. Despite taking a bogey on Hole 17, Fish went to the tee box on 18 confident of his lead. 

“[I was] sort of doing the math and figuring out that if I make par, I’m mostly likely going to win unless he holes out from the fairway or something,” said Fish. 

And Fish did make par, winning the trophy, and for the first in tournament history, a $150,000 check. 

During a press conference following the round, Fish’s daughter asked, “What is mommy going to do with the money,” getting big laughs from everyone in the room, including Fish. 

A rain delay caused start times to be pushed back on Sunday, which Fish said was a great opportunity to see friends he doesn’t often get to see, such as Larry Fitzpatrick and Travis Kelce.

“[To] see old friends and new friends and meet new people and stuff, it’s always fun,” said Fish.

This is Fish’s 11th time playing in the ACC. His first win was in 2020. He had a heartbreaking loss to Steph Curry in 2023 when he shanked his drive on 18 on day three when a fan yelled during his backstroke. 

He is hoping to win the trophy again next year. 

“Look… if I get the invite again, come back here, I’m going to try and win. I know Mark won three times. I think Tony won three times in a row at one point. So we’ve had some dominant champions here, and I just really love coming to this tournament,” said Fish. 

Following the press conference, following tradition, Fish, along with his dad and caddy, jumped in the lake.