The annual 8AM Invitational hosted by Justin Timberlake is nothing short of a fun overload. The 36-hole event, which is hosted at the Wynn Las Vegas, once again brought in athletes and celebs from all over the map. A few of my favorites? Twenty-three-time Olympic gold-medal winner Michael Phelps, comedian Andrew Santino, the Kelce brothers, actor Michael Pena, skateboard icons Sean Malto and Eric Kosten and the one and only Michelle Wie West making an increasingly rare competitive on-course appearance.
The parties, the swag, the vibe — it was all masterfully orchestrated by 8AM Golf and the Wynn to create a one-of-one experience for EVERYONE that had the opportunity to take part. For invitees it has clearly become a “wouldn’t-miss-it-for-the-world” situations. And for a gear junkie like me? There was plenty to take in.
Here is the 5 coolest things I found wandering around Wynn Las Vegas
Michelle Wie-West still has her trusty Callaway Rogue 11-Wood in the bag
I first saw this in the bag back in 2020; at the time it was undoubtedly Michelle’s favorite club in the bag. The 11-wood, which replaces a 5-iron in the bag, carries right at the 175 number for her, spins just under 5K RPMs and gets a peak height of around 105 feet. The trusty club has an LA Golf Red AXS 60G S shaft and taps out at 39.5 inches to the end of the grip. She’s on her last one and is slightly panicked about a replacement — but that just sounds like an Ebay deep-dive challenge to me.
NBA Star Blake Griffin showed up to Round 1 with this thing…
To quote the recently retired power forward: “I woke up and it was in my bag”. I don’t know if he was kidding, but we are in Vegas and we all know pretty much anything is possible in this town after a few Titos-and-sodas.
No clue who makes this club, how old it is or why it’s in Blakes bag but it did look pretty cool sitting next to his Qi10.
First look at the JT X Nike collab
I walked out onto the course and sitting there on the first tee was a sunrise orange vintage van and this shoe display. It took all of my being to not ask the production crew for the keys to the vehicle. Who doesn’t want a dialed in, (subtly) Nike-branded beach cruiser? I do.
JT is a gear nerd and has a fresh new set of Miura TC-202s
(I won’t spoil it beyond the picture, there is a deep dive and video coming soon…)
Miura TC-202 Custom Irons
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The contestant swag bags were packed with cool stuff
Each player received a bag full of goodies AND a custom Vessel stand bag. The swag was provided by companies like Imperial Hats, Jones duffels and backpacks and a ton of Titleist Pro V1X golf balls.
This event has a serious party vibe but to be honest the most refreshing thing to see was how competitive the environment stayed throughout. All 36 players were there to play first and party second. I’ve seen events like this go the other way, but when play concluded and JT held up the trophy I saw how much it meant to him. The guy really wanted to win and from where I sit, that was actually the COOLEST thing I saw all week.
Now how many days ’til next year’s?