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RODNEY PAGEThe country star plays to gallery, letting one man putt for him on the 18th.
LUTZ - If this week's Champions Tour event at the TPC of Tampa Bay were just another stop on the schedule, Vince Gill would be disqualified and Jack Kirby would be thrown out for trespassing. But this is the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, where a fan like Kirby can make a putt for a country music star like Gill.
Unlike seasons past, this year's event pairs an amateur with a professional. The top 12 teams after today's round play Sunday. While the event still is serious business to the pros, amateurs and fans are having a little more fun.
That was evident on the 18th green Friday, when Gill struck a 9-iron 145 yards, within 3 feet of the pin. When playing partner David Eger made his 8-foot birdie putt, Gill decided to play to the crowd.
His putt now meaningless, Gill pulled Kirby from his front-row chair and handed him his putter. While fans who step between the ropes usually are removed from the grounds, Kirby was not. Instead, he calmly walked to the ball and made the putt as the crowd roared.
Only in a pro-am.
"I haven't played in about three months because I did a tour with (wife) Amy (Grant) and then made a record in January," said Gill, a 1 handicap. "That's why I got Mr. Kirby to come out and make that putt. I wasn't going to miss it in front of all these people."
Kirby just was happy to have the chance, even if the guy handing him the putter was a stranger.
"I had no idea who Vince Gill was," said Kirby, who lives in Sun City Center in the winter and Platteville, Wis., in the summer. "I'm a big fan now."
For the most part, there are few amateurs the casual fan would recognize. The Buccaneers' Ronde Barber and Derrick Brooks played, as did Outback Steakhouse founders Chris Sullivan and Bob Basham, actor Chris O'Donnell and USGA president Fred Ridley.
Gill was by far the most nationally recognized figure, among amateurs and most of the professionals. He started the day by making birdie at the first hole and ended it with birdie, albeit with a little help. In between he hit his drives a country mile, made some long putts and signed plenty of autographs.
"As soon as we saw Vince Gill was here, we went right out to find him," said Don Snyder, who was with his father, Bruce, and got an autograph for his wife, Jayne. "We're big fans."
Eger and Gill finished with a team total 9-under-par 62. They were tied for fifth. The team of Tom Kite and Sullivan led with 12-under 59. Barber and partner Gary McCord shot 6-under 65. Brooks and partner Bruce Fleisher shot 5-under 66.
This is not the first time Eger and Gill have played together. They have played hundreds of rounds during their 12-year friendship. Playing with a friend, and a good golfer, was part of the reason Eger opened with 6-under 65.
"(Gill) understands what players out here have to go through," Eger said. "I could never understand what he goes through on stage and with the fans and things like that."
Gill, 46, is edging closer to becoming eligible for the Champions Tour. But he says he knows his place is on stage, not a golf course.
"I had always envisioned, if I wasn't musical, trying a career in golf somehow," Gill said. "I love the game so much. And on the Champions Tour I'm playing with guys I grew up watching.
"On any given day I can play pretty well, but I couldn't string it together daily like these guys do. I've shot as low as 62 before and had some other rounds in the mid 60s, but day in and day out, I can't hang."
Eger and Gill, along with Tom Jenkins and amateur Burley Moss, tee off on the 10th hole at 12:10 p.m. today. It would be wise to sit in the front row since you never know what might happen.