Timberlake-PGA Tour marriage a match made for Vegas

A few weeks back in Boston, his feet kicked up and his butt firmly planted in the hatchback of his PGA Tour courtesy car, Stephen Ames was discussing his plans for the Fall Series in a clubhouse parking lot when an unintentionally funny option was broached.

Ames tipped back a cold beer and laughed.

Justin Timberlake isn't your run-of-the-mill event host. (Getty Images)

Of course, he's a lock to play the season-ender at Disney World, where he's the defending champion, but the Canadian star said he was flat coerced into playing this week in Las Vegas, an event he might otherwise have skipped. Rest assured, he offered a reason unlike any in oral tour annals for attending.

"Because my kids want to meet Justin Timberlake," Ames said, grinning.

For decades, the tour has been accurately viewed as an organization that mostly mined Old Republican money, that wondrous fan demographic with college degrees, disposable income, expense accounts, trophy wives and retirement accounts capable of withstanding the harshest of economic circumstances.

You say Caddy to that invaluable segment of golf fandom and they are as likely to think Escalade first, and bag-toters like Steve Williams, Fluff Cowan or Angelo Argea second. This week in Vegas, which has been one of the most poorly attended events on tour over the years, Timberlake is crooning a tune to a different set of ears.

Timberlake, the former Mickey Mouse Club regular who once lived a few doors down from another teenage wonder, Ty Tryon, long ago was infected by the golf bug and late last year signed on to serve as celebrity host for 2008 and beyond. Thus, he joined a list of past celebs lending their personas to events that included Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Danny Thomas, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Gleason and Glen Campbell. Somehow, back before corporate entities swallowed tournament naming rights, the tour missed landing Sinatra.

To a certain segment of the public -- as in those under age 30 -- Timberlake is the modern-day Old Blue Eyes, minus the old. Speaking of which, those other celebrities appealed to a fan base that was three heartbeats away from a casket.

It's easy to see the pattern with the aforementioned list of entertainers, who clearly represent your parents' favorite celebs and singers, not somebody who once caused a national scandal at a Super Bowl halftime show by peeling off Janet Jackson's top to reveal more cleavage than Tim Herron on his fattest day in a Wonder Bra.

Twinning the former boy-band singer and the PGA Tour sounds like a weeklong wardrobe malfunction, especially when linked with the other hosting entity, the venerable Shriners. If you have attended a parade in the past 50 years, the Shriners are those mostly older dudes in the red fez hats tooling around in tiny go-carts, flinging candy to kids and hoping to dodge the horse poop.

I know what you're thinking. This enterprise sounds like a less-workable marriage than imprisoned boy-band impresario/swindler Lou Pearlman and anybody with cash.

Albeit somewhat slowly, the tour has been gravitating toward more recent dates on birth certificates, if not away from aging stars who require a shot of formaldehyde in the morning to get their blood pumping. Comedian George Lopez, whose sitcom appealed to all ages, served as host of the Bob Hope event for two years. According to the tour, Timberlake's representatives wanted to see if a similar position might be available for the pop star.

He laid out the play-by-play in Golf Digest thusly: "About a year ago I said to my team, 'I can't really think of a celebrity tournament that I really like. How can I get a celebrity tournament of my own? Call the PGA Tour and let them know that I'm interested.'