STATELINE, Nev. — NHL Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr had two eagles and seven-time champion Rick Rhoden birdied five of the last seven holes Saturday to tie for the second-round lead at the 20th annual American Century Celebrity Golf Championship.
Both shot a 5-under-par 67 for a two-day total of 56 points in the modified Stableford scoring system. The format awards six points for eagle, three for birdie, one for par, zero for bogey and minus-two for double bogey or worse.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, the first-round leader with 27 points, shot even par Saturday to get to 49 points in a tie for third with former NHL player Dan Quinn — a four-time winner of the tournament with a $125,000 first-place check.
Fuhr’s two eagles included a 60-foot putt on the 536-yard, par-5 fourth hole to go with two birdies and offset two bogeys for a tournament-record 32 points for the day at Edgewood-Tahoe Golf Course on the shores of Lake Tahoe.
“A bit of a roller coaster,” said Fuhr, a goalie with six different NHL teams who won five Stanley Cup Championships with the Edmonton Oilers from 1981-91.
“I missed six or seven 4-footers but kind of made up for it with a Hail Mary that kind of fell in the cup,” he said. “It was one of those that shouldn’t have gone in. But I had a lot of 4-footers that should have gone in.”
Rhoden, a former major-league pitcher who has played on the PGA’s Champions Tour, bogeyed the first hole but birdied four of the next six. He also bogeyed the 10th hole before finishing strong.
“I had eight birdies so I’ve got nothing to complain about,” Rhoden said. “As bad as I putted yesterday, I putted that good today.”
Former Broncos quarterback John Elway was 10th with 39 points.
Lickliter’s leading
MILWAUKEE — Frank Lickliter shot his best round in nearly three years, posting a 63 to surge to the top of the leaderboard at 11-under 199 after the third round of the U.S. Bank Championship.
Greg Chalmers, who led by two strokes after the second round, was one behind Lickliter after shooting a 69. Jeff Maggert and Chris Riley finished two back at 9-under 201.
Lickliter, who last won on the PGA Tour in 2003, started the day 4-under, but birdied six out of seven holes at one point, making his only mistake in the middle of that stretch with a bogey on No. 7.
He had two more birdies on the back nine with a chance for even more on No. 18, but he missed an eagle putt that would’ve set a personal best for him and settled for a par.
Chalmers, a left-handed Australian, said his putting showed a bit of his nerves Saturday. He had only led after 36 holes once before and fell apart in that tournament in 2000 by stepping on his ball and drawing a penalty on the first hole of that third round.
This time, he lost his two-shot cushion, but stayed close after a rocky front nine with consecutive birdies at Nos. 14 and 15. He also ran into trouble on the par-5 18th with three shots in the rough, but saved par.
Benjamin wins Publinx title
NORMAN, Okla. — Sixth-seeded Brad Benjamin beat top-seeded Nick Taylor 7 and 6 in the final of the U.S. Amateur Public Links championship, earning an invitation to next year’s Masters.
The Associated Press
