Some people love it. Some people loathe it.
I’m talking about celebrity golf in general and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in particular.
The long-running PGA Tour event started by singer Bing Crosby in the 1930s tees off this week on the Monterey Peninsula. A field of 156 pros and 156 amateurs will fan out over three golf courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course).
Many of those amateurs are celebrities of all stripes. Playing in this year’s event, to name a few, are lead singer of Train Pat Monahan, actor Chris O’Donnell, TV personality Carson Daly and country music legend Toby Keith.
There are a few things one can surmise about the Pebble Beach tour stop. You can play golf with PGA Tour pros (and on national television) if you’re rich or famous or both. And if you have the courage to put your game on public display. It’s an annual spectacle filled with laughs and antics (think Bill Murray), crazy golf shots and painfully slow play. Some of us tune in; others tune out.
There’s another slice (pun intended) to this, as GolfDiscount.com staff member Andy raised last summer when we brainstormed topics for this blog.
“Celebrities who play golf,” Andy wrote on the blog list. “Who are they, and are they any good?” (Italics are mine.)
That depends on what is considered good. I expect a “good” standard might be amateurs with a single-digit handicap index.
In that case, the good celebrity golfers in this year’s field include Carson Daly, Tom Dreesen, Colt Ford, Wayne Gretsky, Jake Owen, Aaron Rodgers, Kelly Rohrbach, Tony Romo and Kelly Slater.
And Bill Murray?
The actor and comedian is actually a pretty decent golfer, scraping it around with a 7 to 12 handicap when he’s not in full public clown mode.
Other decent-to-good celebrity golfers (not currently listed in this year’s field) include Tom Brady, Alice Cooper, Kevin Costner, Stephen Curry, Josh Donaldson, Kenny G, Andy Garcia, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Jordan, Cheech Marin, Michael Phelps, Condoleezza Rice, Matt Ryan, Justin Timberlake and Mark Wahlberg.
Justin Timberlake dances on the tee box after hitting a good drive.
Following are the celebrities who will play in this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as currently listed at the tournament website.
2018 Celebrity Field
Bret Baier
Carson Daly
Tom Dreesen
Josh Duhamel
Larry Fitzgerald
Colt Ford
Wayne Gretzky
Chris Harrison
Toby Keith
Thomas Keller
Charles Kelley
Huey Lewis
Pat Monahan
Chris O’Donnell
Jake Owen
Alfonso Ribeiro
Aaron Rodgers
Kelly Rohrbach
Ray Romano
Tony Romo
Joe Don Rooney
Darius Rucker
Kelly Slater
Alex Smith
Larry the Cable Guy
Justin Verlander
Clay Walker
Neil Sagebiel
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