Manning a crowd-pleasing QB

Only at the Wachovia Championship, where Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods played together in Wednesday's pro-am, does a group that includes Sergio Garcia and Peyton Manning settle for second billing.

Still, the Garcia-Manning threesome—which includes Manning's older brother, Cooper—is hardly starved for attention.

Garcia is always a gallery favorite on the PGA Tour. But as crowds begin to grow around the group, it's apparent most fans are there for Peyton Manning, last season's Super Bowl Most Valuable Player as quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts.

Manning doesn't disappoint. When he's not smacking golf balls about 300 yards off the tee (often into the far-right rough), he's a fan-friendly, autograph-signing machine.

Wearing a blue shirt and khakis—with several white tees tucked inside his belt—Manning constantly chats with the gallery, dispensing his signature at an astonishing rate.

He signs hats, T-shirts, programs, pin flags, photos of himself, footballs, golf balls, blue No. 18 Colts jerseys and Colts mini-helmets.

He talks to average fans, people he happens to know —"I'll tell (wife) Ashley I saw you"— course marshals, as well as his brother and Garcia.

"We need a little noise out here," Manning says on the first tee, and the crowd obliges.

He takes out his driver (the one with a Tennessee Volunteers "Smokey" blue-tick hound club cover) and knocks a long drive that careens right and into the trees.

Arriving at the wicked and watery par-3 17th, Manning asks how Jordan fared there.

"He hit it into the crowd," a fan says.

Manning smiles and gives a thumbs-up.

He's then told Jordan went into the lake on his next shot, helped by a playful kick from Woods.

"Even better," Manning says.

Cooper Manning's whistling drive at 17 clears the water. He bends over in relief. As he walks toward the green, several young women yell: "Bye, Cooper!"

Cooper turns and briefly walks back toward them.

"He's the social man of the family," Peyton says. "We're not sure where he's from."

Peyton's drive at 17 splashes into the lake. When he gets to the green, he stands next to the gallery and, of course, signs more autographs.

"I've got nothing else to do on this hole," Manning says.

Provider:
Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News / Charlotte Observer, The (NC)