ACC 2016: Boys on 7 entertain sports stars, spectators at annual Tahoe celebrity golf tournament
Submitted by editor on Sun, 07/24/2016 - 10:22am
What started out as a group of friends coming to south shore Lake Tahoe from their homes in the Sacramento area to watch the American Century Championship golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe has turned into a spectator sport of its own.
As one watches the activity its hard to tell who the gallery is there to watch, the celebrities of the group of friends and what is about to transpire as the celebrity walks to the tee box.
When NBC and tournament directors saw how much fun the friends had on the 7th hole, with their antics and lively interaction with the celebrities, they invited them to have a tent set up, complete with drinks and music during the Celebrity-Am on Thursdays during the tournament.
In 2014, one of the members, Ben Heaps, was tackled by NFL star AJ Hawk. The video went viral and the attention was turned onto the 7th hole.
In 2015, the level of fun with Justin Timberlake was taken to a new level. JT tweeted, "this is the best golf hole ever" after the "boys" and singer/actor had great interactions. When Justin Timberlake tweets something he tweets it to 46.3 million followers.
This year, Blake Mori, who with John Parilo are co-founders of wimZr and one of the leaders of the annual activity, gave a pre-game pep talk to the dozens of friends and family who lined the green at 7. WimZr is an interactive smart phone app the friends invited to provide interaction between fans and events at many different sports, including the last SuperBowl and charity celebrity events. They added a download for Celebrity Golf this year as well. The app is now used in 100 countries in over 2,000 cities.
Kevin Ruder, who co-founded the tequila company 901 with Justin Timberlake in 2008, joined with the wimZr team this year and supplied the drink of choice at the hole. All golfers were invited to take a shot, or have a 901-based drink before, or after, their tee shot. The celebrities were also autographing a 901 bottle to be used for a future charity auction.
"These guys are awesome," said Ruder. "We're excited to be a part of what these guys do. Its a smart app, and we like what they do. Great guys."
Ruder was able to hang out the whole day. He is Timberlake's caddy during the tournament, and with JT out of town, Ruder stayed with the wimZr group throughout the day.
As David Wells came to the 7th, Ruder greeted him. "Its tequila, it won't hurt you," said Ruder. "Its just a number."
Timberlake couldn't be at the Thursday Celeb-Am due to a commitment in San Diego, and he was missed by "the boys."
"Justin is the nicest, most loyal and down to earth guy we've men," said Parilo. "He's an awesome guy and we're wishing him the best, but miss him this year."
During the day on 7, the 55 friends (up 10 from last year) of Parilo and Blake were gathered on both sides of the rope (and some inside), all fitted with headphones pumping in music for their "silent disco," a new feature this year. The boys, and some girls, were dancing to a beat only they heard including Y.M.C.A, the Bee Gess, Cupid Shuffle and Cha-Cha-Sly. They yelled out insults to the golfers, and their amateur partners, from the length of socks they wore to the color of their golf shirt. Flags were tossed at the golfer if they took a bad shot. All was in fun and everyone laughed.
As the day wore on, and the consumption of 901 grew, the headphones came off, the stereo was turned up, and anticipation grew for the appearance of AJ Hawk.
This year, the tournament directors brought a blow up cylinder for Heaps to go inside of. They were both equipped with Go-Pro cameras to record the motion. After two tries at Hawk tackled the plastic covered Heaps, the large ball came off and they went back to their original antic, a full on tackle.
Next year, Parilo said they will be studying more on the amateur players who are paired with the celebrities, and learn about them so insults can be more individualized.
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