GREEN & WHITE BASEBALL

Former Michigan State pitcher Mark Mulder will defend back-to-back celebrity golf titles

Chris Solari
Detroit Free Press

Former Michigan State and major league baseball player Mark Mulder will defend his American Century Celebrity Championship golf title for a second straight year in Stateline, Nevada.

Mulder, the 2015 winner, repeated as champion last year by carding birdies on seven of his first 13 holes to defeat former tennis star Mardy Fish at Edgewood Tahoe golf course. Mulder won $125,000 by carding a 74 for a 5-point victory in the modified Stableford scoring system.

Mark Mulder hits out of a sand trap during the final round of the American Century Championship golf tournament at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on July 19, 2015.

The 39-year-old former pitcher won his first American Century Celebrity Championship title with 82 points in 2015 to take home the $125,000 championship check. Mulder – a television analyst for the Oakland Athletics – finished seventh, third and eighth in the tournament between 2012-14, and he also won the Diamond Resorts Invitational celebrity tournament in January.

More on lsj.com:

Ex-MSU star Mark Mulder to defend celebrity golf title

Former MSU pitcher Mulder returns to retirement, ESPN

Jon Parish's legs are getting weaker, but he sure can race

Former Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson and former Tigers catcher Ivan Rodridguez also will be among the 90 celebrities and former pro athletes in the field at Edgewood Tahoe South this year, along with the legendary Atlanta Braves pitching trio of John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. It will be televised live on NBC Sports Network and NBC.

ACC Golf Tournament winner Mark Mulder, right, receives his check from Jonathan Thomas, American Century President & CEO at Edgewood on Sunday July 24, 2016.

In two years playing for MSU, Mulder went 13-8 with a 2.89 ERA, 169 strikeouts and 31 walks. His junior season in 1998, the 6-foot-6 lefty from South Holland, Illinois, set the school's single-season strikeout record with 113 and also hit a team-best .335 with 11 doubles and five home runs en route to being named a third-team All-American by Baseball America.

Mulder pitched with the Athletics from 2000-04, then moved on to the St. Louis Cardinals from 2005-08. He went 103-60 with a 4.18 earned run average, made two All-Star teams and won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 2006.

Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free onAppleandAndroiddevices!