Steph Curry looks for ‘miraculous day’ at American Century Championship

Warriors guard Steph Curry and former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski have some work to do if they want to win a second American Century Championship title.

Going into today’s final round at Edgewood Tahoe South, Curry and Pavelski trail former tennis professional Mardy Fish, who scored 25 points during Saturday’s second round and has 52 points for the tournament.

Fish had two birdies and two bogeys through the first 17 holes before he eagled the par-5 18th hole to take a four-point lead over second-place Pavelski, and a five-point lead over former LPGA great Annika Sorenstam.

“Would I like to make more birdies? Sure,” Fish said. “But kind of just continuing to move forward and not go backwards. And just kind of trying to give yourself as many chances as you can, that’s kind of the goal every day.”

Pavelski owned the lead after the first round and scored 19 points on Saturday with four birdies, four bogeys and one double-bogey.

Fish, Pavelski, and Sorenstam will all be in the final group on Sunday.

“The course is good. And if you get off the tee, you’re going to have some good looks,” said Pavelski, who is looking to repeat as champion. “Par 3s, you still have to commit to shots and hit good shots. And the greens, they don’t let up.

“They were fast when we showed up here on Wednesday. Friday was fast; today was a little bit faster. And the pins are getting tricky. So you’ll hit a good shot and next thing, you know, you’ll be 8 feet above it, and you’re pretty defensive.”

Curry has 41 points for the tournament and is 11 points back of Fish. Curry scored a 16 on Saturday with three bogeys, two birdies and one double bogey.

Asked what needs to happen to get back into contention Sunday, Curry, the 2023 champion, said, “Something miraculous, because you have to expect that Mardy and I think Joe and Annika are going to have a day. You kind of have to expect that. I need like a career low round just to even have a chance, which is possible.”

Under the tournament’s modified Stableford scoring format, as an albatross is worth 10 points, a hole-in-one is worth eight points, an eagle is worth six points, a birdie is worth three points, a par is worth one point, a bogey is worth nothing and anything two over par or worse is worth minus-two points.

“It’s going to require maybe two eagles,” Curry said. “You have to have a miraculous day.”