American Century Championship Notebook: Mahomes Draws Crowd, Allen Plays With Famous Friends

The Chiefs quarterback had quite the following, but he was just one of a few NFL players and coaches to take part in Thursday’s practice round at the celebrity golf tournament.

My plan for the second and final practice round of the American Century Championship was to follow Patrick Mahomes, who arrived Thursday, along with many other NFL players, including Mahomes’s teammate Travis Kelce.

Obviously, many spectators had the same idea to stick with the Chiefs’ star quarterback throughout the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nev.

But a few holes after Mahomes took his first swing, he was asked to stop signing autographs because he was holding up the people behind him, including Warriors star guard Stephen Curry. (You know Mahomes is having a good offseason when he’s listed in the Hole 1A group, ahead of Curry in Hole 1B.)

Mahomes had an awkward walk from the 11th hole to the 12th because a throng of fans, many in Chiefs jerseys, shouted his name with hopes of getting autographs and pictures. He felt so bad about not stopping that he held court before the 13th hole and told fans why he couldn’t do autographs.

“They told me I can’t anymore,” Mahomes said. “They said I was signing too much stuff. ‘I was taking too long. Hurry up.’ I thought we were having a good time.”

That, of course, didn’t stop fans from shouting “Patrick” nonstop.

“You gotta be more specific,” Patrick Mahomes Sr. jokingly responded.

The older Mahomes cracked a smile after a fan shouted, “Treating that ball like the Raiders,” after his son, the two-time Super Bowl champion, uncorked a laser off the 13th tee.

Mahomes’s following on the gridiron carried over to Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on Thursday.  :: Tom R. Smedes/Special to RGJ/Imagn Content Services

A few holes back, Mahomes struggled with his putting. It was weird seeing Mahomes struggle at something.

Many memorable moments occurred from following Mahomes on Thursday morning, but Kelce also had a giant following for his practice round in the afternoon session. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield signed many Oklahoma jerseys, and star wide receiver Davante Adams heard the familiar “Raiders!” chant everywhere he went.

Here are more sights and sounds from Day 2 in beautiful Lake Tahoe. And don’t forget to follow me on Threads (@gmanzanonfl) for videos of some of these notable moments.

Allen’s popular friends

Bills star quarterback Josh Allen was placed in the afternoon practice session and started with the Hole 10A group, ahead of legendary former basketball player Charles Barkley, who was in Hole 10B.

Barkley got there early to hang with Allen. By the way, Barkley has exceptional people skills, because he went out of his way to say hello to at least a dozen people in his vicinity and had conversations with all of them.

Miles Teller, the actor who recently starred in Top Gun: Maverick, also arrived because he was scheduled to finish on the 10th hole, but his morning group took too long and wasn’t allowed to complete the practice round. That was O.K. with Teller because he finally got to meet Barkley, the outgoing NBA on TNT analyst.

For a few minutes, Allen, Barkley and Teller traded stories. I also got an opportunity to ask Allen what makes a good Bloody Mary after watching him stop at the 12th hole Wednesday to make himself one.

“It’s gotta be spicy,” Allen said. “Yeah, Tabasco. That’s it.”

Pederson eager to see Ridley

Jaguars coach Doug Pederson stopped to chat with me for a few minutes before the 13th hole. (For some reason, that was the go-to hole for best access with the competitors.)

“I just want to hit the ball straight, keep it in the fairway and try to make as many pars and bogeys, for my case, that I can,” Pederson said about his golf game.

Pederson mentioned how eager he is to see newcomer wide receiver Calvin Ridley during training camp later this month. The Jaguars traded for Ridley last season, but he was suspended for the entire 2022 season for violating the league’s gambling policy while with the Falcons.

With the arrival of Ridley, the Jaguars could be contenders in a loaded AFC after being the surprise team last season during Pederson’s first year in Jacksonville.

“Calvin has been good,” Pederson said. “He came in, he’s in great shape, eager to learn. Just looking forward to get to camp and really see how he’s integrated with the offense.”

Hawk aiming to do better than last year

A.J. Hawk, the former Packers linebacker and current host on The Pat McAfee Show, didn’t sound optimistic about winning the celebrity tournament, but he’s aiming to do better than his 52nd-place finish from last year.

“My golf is up and down like always, but yeah, it’s awesome to be here,” Hawk said. “For me to win this thing, I need to find a way to put the ball in play, that’s for sure, off the tee.

“I gotta figure out a way to do better than [52nd]. I gotta put three good days together. I always completely crash and burn at least one day. This year, I’m not going to do that.”

Hawk also didn’t sound confident about beating his colleague McAfee.

“We’ll see,” Hawk said. “Pat can play. He’s got some nice clubs, some PXGs. He’s ready, but yeah, we’ll see. It’ll be fun. I’ll play with him [Friday].”

Hawk was a little harsh on his own golf game. When I walked past the 16th hole, there was a giant board for the longest drives of the day. Hawk’s 304 yards, six inches was second only to Larry Fitzgerald’s 309 yards, 21 inches, and the morning session was nearly over.

Hawk, McAfee and the Boys weren’t around for the first day of the tournament because they were in Los Angeles for the ESPYs, which McAfee hosted.

“Pat killed it,” Hawk said. “I was there in the crowd and got to see. I was dying. That’s such a tough thing I think to even do. He annihilated it. It was fun to watch him.”

Rodgers’s cigar break

I caught Aaron Rodgers again on the 12th hole. He struggled off the tee a day earlier, but not Thursday.

The new Jets quarterback crushed the ball down the fairway and celebrated by cutting a cigar and smoking it during his lengthy walk to the ball.

One final note, country singer Jake Owen really does look like Rodgers. I kept thinking it was Rodgers when Owen was paired with Curry and boxing star Canelo Álvarez on Wednesday.