02/13/26 12:21:00
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02/13 12:20 CST Taylor Swift rumors spiked ticket sales for Pebble Beach golf
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Taylor Swift rumors spiked ticket sales for Pebble Beach golf tournament
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) --- Taylor Swift boosted ticket sales to the AT&T
Pebble Beach Pro-am without even being there.
Pebble Beach had an extra buzz Friday morning with rumors swirling in the cool
Pacific breeze Swift would be there to watch her fianc, Kansas City Chiefs
tight end Travis Kelce, playing in the PGA Tour event that combines corporate
CEOs and celebrities with golf's best.
Alas, Swifties, it was just another pretty day at Pebble Beach.
It still was good news for the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, which runs the
event. Tournament director Steve John said when Kelce was announced as playing
in the pro-am, more than $60,000 in tickets were sold over the next 12 hours.
Swift is rumored to be in town. But she was not at Spyglass Hill on Thursday,
where Kelce was playing with pro partner Keith Mitchell along with Mackenzie
Hughes and retired NFL quarterback Alex Smith.
No matter. Pebble Beach is the main attraction, and John said some $21,000
tickets for the second round were sold between 6:30 p.m. Thursday and 6:30 a.m.
Friday, two hours before Kelce played.
More than 1,000 spectators lined the left side of the first fairway at Pebble
Beach, but all they saw was Kelce hitting his tee shot to the right, into and
out of the trees, and along the cart path (he made a par).
Sure, there was plenty of Chiefs gear in the crowd, one young girl wearing a
Kansas City sweatshirt. The tournament has a long history of athletes over the
years, including Ken Griffey Jr. playing in a group with Tiger Woods some 20
years ago. Roger Clemens once made a hole-in-one.
This, however, was clearly a Swift moment. Except that it wasn't.
John and his tournament staff left nothing to chance. When he wasn't busy
responding to text messages --- will she be there or not? --- he had plans in
place for security, for transportation across the course, even a secure suite
overlooking the 18th green.
The big crowd --- not the largest, but more than usual --- followed along the
Kelce group down the first few holes. They still had four hours left. They had
hope.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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