Celebrities give AmFam Championship fans a show and, for some, an autograph on a swim cap

The crowd sounded disappointed that it wasn’t the full, arm-flapping, back-slapping exercise that was Phelps’ signature display before he went off the starting block and into the pool during his swimming career.

“You want it?” he asked the group assembled around the tee box. The crowd roared approval and the 28-time Olympic swimming medalist dropped his driver and gave the spectators another performance.

Michael Phelps giving the people what they want to see before he tees off. No way he doesn’t win this now. pic.twitter.com/f12c9mYMaF

— Todd Milewski (@ToddMilewski) June 10, 2023

Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time for his work in the water, but he held his own on the course Saturday as part of the celebrity foursome hosted by Andy North during the American Family Insurance Championship.

He striped a drive down the middle of the fairway on No. 10, the group’s first hole in a nine-hole scramble. Someone behind him remarked after his second shot from the fairway that “he’s not bad for a swimmer.”

Phelps rolled in a birdie putt to kick things off in a good way for his team with North that competed against pro golfer Zach Johnson and Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter.

“You can’t get ’em all unless you get the first one,” North said after congratulating his teammate on the putt.

Johnson, the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup captain who has four of his vice captains playing in the PGA Tour Champions event this week, hit more clutch shots than anyone. He and Jeter finished at 6 under, two shots better than North and Phelps.

The winners had a $25,000 donation to the American Family Children’s Hospital made in their names.

Phelps and Johnson were newcomers to the celebrity event, which goes off after the AmFam Championship’s final group of the day. A healthy gallery followed along, with autograph-seekers at every turn.

Phelps stopped for two swim cap-wearing youngsters between the 13th green and the 14th tee. “I haven’t signed too many swim caps on someone’s head before,” he said.

A boy yelled out to Phelps on the 11th fairway that he’s a swimmer, too, and got first place in the 100-yard backstroke in a meet Friday.

“Oh, let’s go!” Phelps replied from a distance. “Keep it going, dude.”

The banter was lively but there were some great shots, too. Johnson nestled the ball within 2 feet from the tee on the par-3 12th hole.

“That’s good,” North said when the group got to the green. “Are you kidding me? You’re a two-time major champion.”

Johnson, who won the Masters in 2007 and the British Open in 2015, still tapped it in for birdie after rolling in for eagle a hole earlier.

There were some less-than-stellar drives from the golf novices. Phelps rolled the ball off the tee on No. 13 and laughed it off, drawing fist bumps from Jeter and Johnson.

Jeter, who appeared in the charity foursome for the fourth time, needed a mulligan on the 10th after mentioning the pressure of standing alone in the tee box.

“You admire athletes from other sports,” Jeter said at a news conference earlier in the day. “Even if it’s just playing nine holes, you get an opportunity to pick people’s brains and see what their mentality is. You can learn a lot from individuals in other sports.

“We’re all fans of other sports. The great equalizer … is no matter how good you are in your particular sport or your individual sport, it’s all equal when you start playing golf.”

He pointed at Phelps. “Except he’s an avid golfer,” Jeter said.

North had a quick retort: “The excuses already.”

Phelps won a record 23 gold medals over the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics after debuting as a 15-year-old in 2000. He sank a putt estimated at 160 feet at an event in Scotland in 2012; it was dubbed the longest made putt ever televised.

A year later, he appeared in an episode of “The Haney Project,” a TV series where golf instructor Hank Haney helps celebrities improve.

“As a competitor, I guess this is what retired athletes do — frustrate ourselves on the golf course,” Phelps said.

A longtime Madison resident, North had a different take on Jeter’s idea of the great equalizer between pros and amateurs in golf.

“There’s nothing better than watching somebody who was the greatest at what they did in their sport and they struggle like crazy in the sport we play,” he said.

“Nobody ever asked me to go swim,” he said with a laugh. “Nobody wants to get in the pool and race me.”