PEBBLE BEACH \u2013 Celebrities have always had a place at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, featured and celebrated going back to the days of Bing Crosby, the godfather of this tournament. On Friday, one certain celebrity was nowhere near this place and still caused a stir.<\/p>\n
With star NFL tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs making his debut, Pebble Beach Golf Links was considerably more alive on a Friday morning, anticipation coursing through the property.<\/p>\n
Is she here? Have you seen her? <\/p>\n
The gallery swelled around the group of Kelce and his partner Keith Mitchell, who were playing with Mackenzie Hughes and former San Francisco and Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith. Kelce, a seven-time All-Pro and three-time Super Bowl champion, is a big deal on his own. But the fact that he is engaged to someone named Taylor Swift, pop music\u2019s tour de force, well, that was worth buying a ticket.<\/p>\n
Steve John, tournament director and CEO of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, said that the event sold $60,000 worth of tickets in the first 12 hours after it was announced that Kelce would play in the pro-am event. Another $20,000 worth was gobbled up on Thursday as Swift\u2019s devoted fans\u2014\u201cSwifties\u201d\u2014hoped to catch a glimpse of her.<\/p>\n
But it was not to be. They had to settle for watching her fianc\u00e9, a decent golfer who carries a 10 handicap and was making his second appearance in as many weeks at a PGA Tour event after playing in the Wednesday pro-am at the WM Phoenix Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever played in front of that many people,\u201d said Smith, who now serves as an NFL analyst on ESPN. <\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, it’s not unusual to play with an athlete or a celebrity,\u201d Hughes said, \u201cbut all we heard outside the ropes is, ‘Is she here or not?’ Well, I can only imagine if she was, because, it was busy without her, with her, I think it would have literally been out of hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell is a bit more used to the extra scrutiny in this event. In years past he has been paired with another NFL standout, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. He felt a bit funny about it. \u201cA little bit. I mean, Bills-Chiefs is a big rivalry,\u201d he said. \u201cI think Travis has stolen a lot of games from them. Josh, obviously wishes he was here. I think he’s healing right now, I think he had an injury, but all in all we had a great time with Travis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was normal inside the ropes,\u201d Mitchell added. \u201cIt’s always nice having people cheering for you and rooting for you even if it’s just for your group. It just brings the energy up and makes you feel a little bit of juice even if you’re not near the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell shot five-under 67 at Pebble to complete 36 holes in three-under 141, while Hughes had 71 for 137. The Mitchell-Kelce team combined for 11 under, tied for 33rd place in a field of 80 pros and amateurs. Hughes and Smith combined for 15 under to end up T-7.<\/p>\n
Kelce, who declined interview requests, struggled a bit in the second round amid the hoopla after starting strong on Thursday at Spyglass Hill. \u201cI think he was beating me through five or six holes yesterday gross, so I was a little skeptical of his handicap,\u201d Mitchell noted.<\/p>\n
The finish on the famed par-5 18th hole was especially painful\u2014in more ways than one\u2014as Kelce put two tee balls in the ocean before getting a third drive in play. Then he sliced his sixth shot into the gallery, beaning a female spectator, Edenne Flinn from nearby Salinas, Calif. He waded into the crowd to check on her and did not complete the hole. He signed autographs afterward and chatted with some young fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was amazing. He was, you know, high-fiving a bunch of kids and taking pictures,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cHe handled it like an absolute pro.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if all the extra attention is still new to him as Taylor Swift\u2019s significant other, Kelce was cool.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe even said it. He’s like, \u2018You know, it hasn’t always been this way,\u2019\u201d said Hughes, who sheepishly admitted to being a fan of some of Swift\u2019s music. \u201cBut since \u2026 they’re dating or they’re now engaged, he’s like, \u2018My life’s changed a little bit.\u2019 So, even for him to say that, that’s pretty telling. He’s already a pretty big star. But to say your life’s changed. \u2026 But it was it was great. The vibe was awesome, and I thought he was great to be with and just a great, great personality.\u201d<\/p>\n
John, the tournament director, no doubt will want to have him back. Good for the box office and charity. “Swifties” will have to wait in breathless anticipation to see if Kelce comes back with his popular better half.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PEBBLE BEACH \u2013 Celebrities have always had a place at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, featured and celebrated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1338,82,3615,3616,12650],"class_list":["post-31188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-att-pebble-beach-pro-am","tag-att-pebble-beach-pro-am","tag-story","tag-taylor-swift","tag-travis-kelce","tag-travis-who-swifties-flocked-to-pebble-beach-but-didnt-see-their-heroine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}