Can John Smoltz Finally Win Celebrity Golf’s Top Prize?

John Smoltz wants to accomplish on the golf course what he once accomplished on the baseball diamond — win a championship.

The Atlanta Braves great and Hall of Fame pitcher has participated in the American Century Championship in 13 of the past 14 years and first participated in the celebrity golf tournament back in 2000. However, he’s never actually won the tournament, with his best finish being second place back in 2021.

The 58-year-old will once again participate in the tournament in July in Lake Tahoe with more than 90 celebrities and athletes involved. The tournament will see some of the familiar faces including former champions such as Mardy Fish, Steph Curry, Tony Romo and Mark Mulder.

“I feel like I’m in the top five here every year,” says Smoltz in a one-on-one interview. “I should be in the top five. I have high expectations. I’m usually in the top 10, but I’m trending in the right direction. I get too geeked up for this tournament. I got to learn how to just slow it down right before Tahoe, I will know if I made the US Open or not.

“I’ve got a qualifier one more round to get through, and I could play in my second Senior Open, which has really helped me navigate tournament golf,” Smoltz continues to say. “Tournament golf is so different than what I play, because what I play is fast, chaotic. Race to the ball, play as fast as you can. That is not tournament golf. As it leads up into Tahoe, I will take more time to play golf and get ready for that pace.”

Smoltz finished in the top four in three of the past four years. He says Mulder is the best former baseball player on the course, with the former two-time All-Star pitcher having won the tournament three consecutive years from 2015 until 2017.

“There’s some baseball players that can flat out play, and I can hang a little bit more now that I’m getting a little bit longer,” says Smoltz. “I’m working out These guys used to bomb it way by me, but now I’m going to be able to stay in their area code, but Mark Mulder has a similar game to Marty fish, just right handed versus left handed. Baseball players have been known to — for the sport collectively — have the most players that play in the sport, depth wise. We’ve got a good roster of baseball players when put together in the same tournament, it’s going to be a fun watch.”

The 1996 NL Cy Young Award winner details why pitchers transition well to the golf course and how batters have a similar type of advantage due to their hand-eye coordination.

He also says that hockey players do well on the golf course — like former Dallas Stars veteran Joe Pavelski — due to how they shoot the puck in hockey. Smoltz also says field goal kickers in football tend to do well on the golf course.

It all comes down to hand-eye coordination and time.

“A lot of us pitchers have time to play, so we put a lot of time in between starts to play and hand eye coordination for a lot of hitters who bomb it like Aaron Hicks, Derek Lowe, there’s so many golfers that flat out move the golf ball, and they’re just sneaky strong because of the way they handle the bat,” says Smoltz.

While Smoltz mentions Mulder and Romo among the best players in the tournament, he singles out Fish — the former tennis standout — as the very best in this field. Fish has won twice, including last year.

“Mardy Fish,” says Smoltz when asked who’s the best golfer in the tournament. “Mark Mulder’s had success here, he’s won multiple times. Tony Romo has dominated this event a couple times. Mardy Fish really has the elite celebrity kind of game. The only way that you can beat Mardy Fish is that it’s super windy and he doesn’t have that majestic ball that he plays.”

Smoltz goes into further detail why Fish is such a standout on the golf course, giving him credit and saying that he could make noise at the “next level.”

“He’s got a pretty swing,” says Smoltz. “Once you’ve been there done that, you become comfortable with the environment. He is comfortable playing golf. I don’t think he wants to go anywhere else. But if there was a player that could maybe tempt with making some tournaments and making some noise at the next level, I think Mardy Fish is one of those guys.”

The American Century Championship’s total purse is $750K with first place getting a $150K payout in the most prestigious celebrity tournament in golf. The first round will start on July 11 and the event will conclude on July 13, with the tournament being broadcast on NBC.

“This is the greatest tournament that the celebrities get to play in, it’s a perfect venue,” says Smoltz. “Perfect place to kind of showcase something we do on the side. All walks of life come together, some really great golfers in the field, and it’s just the perfect week for me. Obviously, I have to do the MLB All-Star game afterwards (as a broadcaster), but to play golf and Tahoe and to compete — I am going to be the oldest winner at some point. Just don’t know when that is, it could be this year. But it’s one of the greatest events we get to play in.”