Trevor Lawrence spent much of Saturday losing points.
He finished the afternoon finding them.
The Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback endured five double bogeys through his first 12 holes in the second round of the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.
With the round beginning to slip away, Lawrence settled down and made par on each of his final five holes.
The recovery did not erase all of the earlier damage.
Lawrence shot an 87 and finished the round with minus-2 points under the tournament’s modified Stableford format, according to a Florida Times-Union report published by Yahoo Sports.
For a quarterback accustomed to having every mistake examined, a quiet finish counted as progress.
Lawrence Stops the Slide With Five Straight Pars
The tournament’s scoring format made Lawrence’s early trouble especially costly.
Players receive three points for a birdie and one for a par. A bogey brings no points, while a double bogey or worse costs two. Lawrence’s five double bogeys therefore put him 10 points in the wrong direction before the round reached its closing stretch.
His final five pars returned five of them.
That left Lawrence at minus-2 for the round and even through two days after he scored two points Friday. The official tournament leaderboard had him tied for 43rd in the 90-player field after 36 holes.
Pars do not carry the same value as birdies in the American Century format.
Five in a row, however, showed the kind of consistency he had been missing. Lawrence avoided another double bogey and finished without another damaging hole.
Celebrity Tournament Has Become a Lawrence Offseason Stop
This is Lawrence’s third consecutive appearance at the American Century Championship, one of the most recognizable celebrity golf events on the summer calendar.
He tied for 44th in 2024 with 12 points over three rounds. His best golf that weekend came Sunday, when he scored 15 points after opening with rounds of two and minus-5, according to WYFF’s tournament recap.
That performance also included one of Lawrence’s closest brushes with a tournament highlight. He nearly made a hole-in-one at the par-3 12th, leaving his tee shot inches from the cup.
Lawrence returned to Lake Tahoe last summer and came back again this week as part of a field packed with current and former athletes. He began this year’s event in a quarterback grouping with Baker Mayfield and Drew Brees.
The tournament’s serious contenders were playing a different game near the top of the leaderboard.
Former professional tennis player Mardy Fish produced an eagle on the par-5 18th hole Saturday to reach 52 points through two rounds, via NBC Sports’ second-round recap.
Defending champion Joe Pavelski followed with 48 points, while golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam sat one point behind him.
Stephen Curry remained within striking distance at 41 points after entering the weekend in third place. The 2023 tournament champion opened with six birdies Friday, although he could not maintain that pace during the second round.
Sorenstam moved in the opposite direction, making five birdies Saturday after recording 16 pars, an eagle and one bogey in the opening round.
The football names were spread throughout the field. Davante Adams, Andrew Whitworth and several former NFL stars remained ahead of Lawrence, while Mayfield also struggled to generate points.
Jacksonville Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence Rallies After Brutal Golf Start