Jordan, Barkley and Tebow hit the links for NBC

From NBC Sports -

MICHAEL JORDAN, CHARLES BARKLEY, TONY ROMO & TIM TEBOW HEADLINE NBC SPORTS GROUP’S COVERAGE OF AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

NBC and VERSUS combine for nine hours of live coverage of premiere celebrity tournament in golf

“…the best-kept secret in sports.” – ESPN The Magazine on the American Century Championship

NEW YORK – July 12, 2011 – The NBC Sports Group will present the most comprehensive coverage ever of the American Century Championship, the nation’s premier celebrity golf tournament, from Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Lake Tahoe, Nev., this Friday 4-7 p.m. ET on VERSUS, and Saturday and Sunday 3-6 p.m. ET on NBC. Golf Channel will re-air VERSUS’ first-round coverage Saturday 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET.

More than 80 sports and entertainment stars will compete in what ESPN The Magazine calls “the best-kept secret in sports,” including Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Tony Romo, Tim Tebow, Aaron Rodgers, John Elway, Jerry Rice, Jerome Bettis, Ray Allen, Javier Colon of The Voice and Brian Baumgarten of The Office.

Dan Hicks, Roger Maltbie, Gary Koch, Mark Rolfing, Dottie Pepper and Jimmy Roberts anchor NBC Sports Group’s coverage.

In addition to re-airing the first round on Saturday, Golf Channel will have a major presence at the American Century Championship. Golf Channel’s Holly Sonders will be reporting on-site throughout the week for Morning Drive, conducting one-on-one interviews with many of the celebrities participating in the championship. The interviews will air during Morning Drive’s expanded coverage Wednesday-Friday (7-11 a.m. ET).

Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee will also be on site this week to film four special editions of Playing Lessons from the Pros. Chamblee will play a round of golf with Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis and Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, providing tips and drills on the course during each round of play. The Playing Lessons from the Pros specials are scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2011 on Golf Channel.

GolfNow host Lauren Thompson will also be on-site, filming an upcoming travel show, GolfNow Lake Tahoe, featuring interviews with Emmitt Smith, Rodgers and actor Kevin Nealon. GolfNow Lake Tahoe is scheduled to premiere on Golf Channel in the fall of 2011.

First-time celebrities making the trip to Lake Tahoe include former MLB pitchers Andy Pettitte and Goose Gossage, New Jersey Nets star Deron Williams, Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby and Denver Broncos quarterback Tebow.

Three-time champion and former NFL quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver returns to defend his title. Past champions in the field include: former NFL quarterback Chris Chandler, former NHL star Dan Quinn, former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien, former MLB all-star pitcher Rick Rhoden and actor Jack Wagner.

ESPN The Magazine said last year about the American Century Championship’s star power: “Sure, you could attend a Hall of Fame induction ceremony and see plenty of legends, but they'd all be from the same sport. You could sneak into the ESPYs and find all manner of jocks, but aside from the ceremony itself and maybe a pre- or postparty, that's it. They're in, they're out. People swear by the NBA All-Star weekend and Super Bowl week, but the host towns are so big and the party schedule so jam-packed that you never come close to getting all the big dogs in the same place at the same time. In Tahoe, you do.”

For the sixth year in a row, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) is the official charity of the American Century Championship. The tournament will help build awareness of the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign, while raising funds for the LAF’s cancer survivorship initiatives.

WORLD OF ADVENTURE SPORTS, SATURDAY, 2 PM ET

NBC Sports presents its fourth installment this year of the Emmy Award-winning series World of Adventure Sports, which captures behind the scenes taped coverage of some of the world’s greatest events in action and adventure sports, this Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. This week’s episode showcases the following four events: Red Bull Surf Trip – Marshall Islands, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2011, wakeskating and the Oakley World Pro Junior 2010.

In this episode’s Red Bull Surf Trip, WOAS follows Red Bull athletes Levi Siver, Jason Polakow and Kai Lenny as they join legendary boat captain Martin Daly and the rest of the Oxbow Waterman Team in the wild and remote Marshall Islands.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, in Colorado Springs, is an automotive race run on a 12.42-mile course with 156 turns that begins at 9,390 feet and finishes at the 14,110-foot summit of America’s mountain.

This week’s episode will also include wakeskating, an adaptation of wakeboarding in which riders are not bound to the board in any way, allowing for more technical tricks.

Lastly, the Oakley World Pro Junior 2010 is a unique surfing event on the wave rich island of Bali, Indonesia, which features a field of 64 international competitors from throughout the world including Brazil, USA, Hawaii, Australia, Japan and France. The event showcases some of the most progressive and high performance surfing ever seen in a competition.

IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, SUNDAY, 1 PM ET

NBC Sports presents taped coverage of the 2010 Ironman World Championship this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET from Kona, Hawaii.

The 2010 Ford Ironman World Championship not only has one of the most exciting professional races in history as a backdrop, but coverage also includes features on several of the athletes including Kyle Garlett, the cancer-survivor and heart-transplant recipient who missed the swim cut off by eight seconds during the 2009 race, and Kathleen Allen, the 39-year-old who is one of the top age group triathletes in the United States. Allen had to re-learn how to walk after a horrific accident a few years ago.

Al Trautwig provides commentary.