18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY february 2-8, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Drive Time Musicians—including the country chart’s finest— are drawn to golf and the Pro-Am. By Dave Faries If things go as Charles Kelley expects, the Lady A frontman will be on board a plane back to Nashville when the AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm wraps up on Sunday, Feb. 5. “You can see how confident I am,” Kelley says with a chuckle, noting that he booked the return flight well in advance. “I’m a realist.” The event plays out on three courses over four days, with only the players scoring below a certain mark advancing to Sunday’s final round. This will be the country music star’s sixth appearance at the ProAm. Although carrying a respectable 5 handicap, and showing enough of a game that Golf Digest ranked him among the top 20 country artists when it comes to hoisting a bag, Kelley has made the cut at Pebble Beach just once. “That, for me, is a win— to make Sunday,” he says. A year ago both Kelley and his professional playing partner Kevin Kisner struggled, falling 7 strokes afoul of the cut line as a team. According to Kelley, Kisner—perhaps ruefully, but still jokingly—reminded him that if a pro golfer fails to make the cut, he doesn’t get paid, while a musician can clang a few notes, garble a few lyrics and still pick up a check. Yet there is an apparent affinity between golf and musicians, particularly those on the country charts. In addition to Kelley in this year’s Pro-Am field are the likes of Lukas Nelson, Eric Church and Jake Owen. “There do seem to be a lot of country musicians,” Kelley observes. And despite the reputation for outsized belt buckles, extra gallons to the hat, beer cans and all, interest in the sport runs even into the outlaw ranks. Willie Nelson is an avid golfer who went so far as to purchase a course near Austin, Texas so he could play in between recording sessions (he installed a studio on-site). “The crazy thing is, I didn’t realize Willie Nelson—and Glen Campbell— were such big golfers,” Kelley admits. “Jake Owen is probably the best of all of us.” Owen routinely pairs up with Jordan Spieth at Pebble Beach. But when Golf Digest set out to rank country music’s best golfers, it was Vince Gill who earned the most praise. Colt Ford—a one-time course pro who has competed in the Pro-Am—came in at number two. Kip Moore is on the list, too. He played collegiate golf at Valdosta State University. The attraction of musicians to the sport goes back decades, even to the foundation of the Pro-Am. Crooner Bing Crosby started the event in 1937 as a casual “clambake,” inviting friends such as radio orchestra leader Phil Harris—a notorious hard partier who once sank a long putt, turned to Crosby and said “that’s a helluva blow to clean living”—to compete at Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego. After a World War II hiatus, Crosby Golf At&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Palmer’s Place 20 Volunteer State 22 Golf in the Rough 24 Complete Pairings: Follow along with the pros and amateurs playing the AT&T Pro-Am mcweekly.com/attpairings MOnterey Peninsula Foundation MOnterey Peninsula Foundation
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