Celebrities join pros for Buick Open Pro-Am

WARWICK HILLS (WJRT) -- (06/25/08) -- Wednesday at the Buick Open is always a star-studded affair. It's Pro-Am day.

This year's pro-am is unlike any other.

The pros and fans alike are also marking the 50th anniversary of the first Buick Open.

The celebration started just before noon with a special tee-off featuring 1958 Buick Open winner Billy Casper and last year's champ Brian Bateman.

This is just part of the fun for this special celebration.

There are many other surprises coming up later today.

Everyone's waiting for Kid Rock to tee off alongside his good buddy John Daly.

They'll hit the course at 1:20 Wednesday afternoon.

Kid Rock isn't the only celebrity making an appearance today. Plenty of familiar faces teed off early this morning.

The Buick Open Pro-Am brought out some of the Detroit sports scene's heavy hitters. Red Wing Kirk Maltby, though, felt out of place. "You don't get the chance to do something like this very often. Playing alongside a PGA Tour pro will be humbling out on the golf course."

Lions quarterback Jon Kitna was just trying to avoid public humiliation.  "I just swung hard and tried to hit it off the tee."

Former Piston Vinnie Johnson has become a pro-am regular. He knew not to bring his "Bad Boy" mentality to the Buick.  "There's no one here to hit. You just hold it in and try to have fun."

Maltby managed to hold his own. Just like a hockey player, his first approach shot clanked off the post , or in this case,  the flag pole.

"Wow, I've never done that before," he muttered.

Maltby's resume speaks for itself: four Stanley Cups with the Red Wings. But even he gets intimidated with the thought of playing with one of the PGA Tour's longest drivers."

"Playing with Bubba Watson.  Yeah, that's humbling."

According to the Johnson, a celeb's best bet is to just blend in.  "Just stay out of the pro's way and have fun. That's all."

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