The golf wasn’t so hot this weekend at the American Century Championship for Charles Barkley, who ranked outside the top 50 in the tournament’s modified Stableford scoring system.
But there was one major highlight from being on the links.
“I got to meet Scarlett Johansson,” Barkley said in an NBC Sports interview during Sunday’s final round at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. “That went right on top of the ladder.”
It ranked ahead of playing with NHL players and Olympic gold medalists Brady and Matthew Tkachuk and with former NFL player Jason Kelce, whom Barkley said was “such a good dude” after getting to know him through the celebrity event.
“Jason was a close third” behind the Tkachuk brothers, Barkley cracked.
A Hall of Famer who has become one of the most widely known (and wildly popular) NBA broadcast analysts during an Emmy Award-winning career, Barkley is an 11-time All-Star and the 1993 MVP winner. But beyond pro basketball, he also is a bit of a pop culture phenomenon, as explained by Johannson’s reaction to meeting him.
Johannsson attended the ACC to watch her husband, Colin Jost, who missed a hole in one by inches Saturday. During a recap of the epic shot Sunday, Jost explained what encountering Barkley meant to his wife.
“By the way, Scarlett’s favorite moment of the week was meeting Charles Barkley,” Jost said. “She immediately texted me, ‘I met Charles Barkley from ‘Space Jam!’ ”
