
“Taylor Swift might be there.”
That was likely what many Swifties thought when Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end who’s engaged to Swift, entered the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which pairs celebrities with PGA Tour pros over the first two rounds.
As a result, the galleries Friday on Pebble’s Spyglass Hill course were large, following Kelce, who played with Tour pros Keith Mitchell, Mackenzie Hughes and retired NFL quarterback Alex Smith.
Much to those fans’ disappointment, though, Swift didn’t show up.
“It was busy without [Swift],” Hughes told the Associated Press. “With her, I think it would have literally been pandemonium.”
Regardless, the event benefited from just the hope that Swift might attend. Steve John, the tournament director, told the AP that when it was revealed Kelce would participate in the pro-am, nearly $60,000 in tickets were sold in the following 12 hours.
And between Kelce’s first-and-second-round tee times, roughly $21,000 in tickets were purchased, yielding over 1,000 fans lining up the side of the fairway Friday morning.
"I brought out the old visor ... I've got the cashmere on."
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 13, 2026
Cashmere (@TKelce) respects Kashmere (@K_M_Mitchell) 🫡
📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/U19pZjoLsf
Knowing that it was a possibility Swift might arrive on-site, John said the tournament planned for enhanced security measures, along with transportation around the course for Swift and a private, secure suite that overlooked the 18th green.
Had Swift been sitting in there when her fiancé played last, she would have seen a turbulent end to his round. According to Golfweek, Kelce hit a fan in the gallery with his second shot. Afterward, he went to check on them, signed something, picked up his ball and walked off the course.
Kelce and Mitchell finished T35 on the pro-am leaderboard at 11 under par, while Keegan Bradley and Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist, won that division at 20 under par.
Akshay Bhatia and Ryo Hisatsune lead the professional leaderboard by one stroke at 15 under.
More on Sports Illustrated
- George Karl Explores How the ABA Was ‘a Godsend for Sports’
- What Questions Adam Silver Should Address in Kawhi Leonard–Aspiration Scandal, According to Pablo Torre
- Best Men’s College Basketball Games to Watch: Big 12 Clash, West Coast Battles Stack Slate
- Ole Miss and Trinidad Chambliss Prove the NCAA Can’t Wait for Congress Anymore
- Brock Holt Claims a Red Sox Teammate Threatened to Shoot Him in 2018
This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Taylor Swift Caused a Rush of Ticket Sales for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.