Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell wow QBE Shootout with a special guest Brandt Snedeker

NAPLES, Fla. — Live Fest was just as lively as it was two years ago. Even livelier for PGA Tour player Brandt Snedeker.

The Nashville native knows quite a few in the country music world, including Saturday night’s headliner, Thomas Rhett. So Snedeker went to chat with Rhett before the concert.

Little did he know what present Rhett was going to bestow upon him.

“I’ve gotten to know Thomas a little bit, being a Nashville guy,” Snedeker said Sunday. “Kind of met up before the show just to say hello to him. He kind of spurred it on me that he was going to bring me out on stage and sing ‘Friends in Low Places’ (the Garth Brooks classic) with him. I vehemently denied it, said I didn’t want to do it, that I can’t sing, it’s going to be awful.

“He won out. I had an hour and a half of nervousness waiting to be called on stage, and was able to kind of fake my way through it. But it was something cool, something I’ll always remember. It was super nice of him to do it.”

Snedeker will never forget it, but he will also remember it when it comes to Rhett.

“I’m going to try to turn the tables on him at some point in my career and get him out on the golf course make him feel the way I did,” Snedeker said with a laugh.

Snedeker said he hadn’t heard any critiques from his fellow pros yet.

“I think they thought I did OK, knowing I was terrible at it,” he said.

“If he ever decides not to play golf, I think he has a great career in singing and acting,” offered Charles Howell III.

A year off due to the coronavirus pandemic had little effect on the concert.

Darius Rucker and Lady A had headlined the inaugural show in 2019 with more than 8,000 people on the Tiburón Golf Club driving range. Organizers planned for 9,000 this year, with Rhett and Swindell the main acts, and reached that number.

“It was another magical night in Naples,” tournament director Rob Hartman said. “The energy, the atmosphere last night was just incredible. A sold-out show, over 9,000 people. It was an amazing night.”

Local act Ben Allen Band, with their namesake singer coming off an appearance on NBC’s “The Voice” in the interim between Live Fests, kicked off the show once again, just after 5 p.m. Female trio Runaway June performed as a duo, with Natalie Stovall and Jennifer Wayne taking turns filling in for lead singer Naomi Cooke, who posted she was out for medical reasons on her social media.

The anticipation only grew bigger in time for the final two acts, Swindell and Rhett, with event creator Steve Hagenbuckle thanking the crowd for another successful show.

“He did a great job last night,” Hartman said. “This is his baby and his vision. For him it’s very rewarding to be up there on stage and see what he created come to fruition, and it is for all of us.”

Gates opened at 3:30 p.m., but the stream of cowboy hats and boots—not the typical golf attire—started crossing near the Tiburon putting green around 3 p.m., many with lawn chairs at the ready.

“We knew what to expect this year, but we still had that feeling of they won’t stop coming in,” Hartman said. “There’s a flow of traffic. We open our gates at 3:30, so 3:30 to 7 p.m., it was a constant flow of people.

Runaway June performs at Live Fest during the QBE Shootout at the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Florida, on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. Photo by Chris Tilley/Naples Daily News

“One of the coolest things for us is we had a tremendous number of our golf fans who stayed for the concert. We also had thousands and thousands of people who came before the concert, and then were exposed to golf as well. So you talk about the blending of music and golf, it’s all coming together.”

Hartman said over half of the 24-player field of tour pros took in the show, with one highlight in particular, with Snedeker getting called up.

“It was incredible,” Hartman said.

Hartman credited all of the artists, but Swindell and Rhett in particular. Swindell played both days of the pro-am, and also performed at the pro-am gala Thursday night.

“I can’t say enough good things about Cole Swindell and Thomas Rhett,” he said.

Hartman and Team Wasserman, the tournament and the event’s management company, pulled out all of the stops to pull off the concert.

“To put on an event of this magnitude, it takes an army, and the effort that was put in by the Wasserman team. … we’re firing on all cylinders,” he said.

Hartman said improvements geared toward general admission such as increases in concession stands and restrooms, as well as a video board, were hits. He said concession sales were 30 percent higher than in 2019. A center walkway also was added for the acts coming out in front of the stage.

“We had the environment that we wanted around the stage, which was a full pit, lots of energy,” Hartman said. “The acts feed off that.”

Hartman said he doesn’t anticipate increasing the capacity for next year.

“I think we’ve found our sweet spot,” he said. “We’ve got a great model. We will continue to tweak that model because you learn more things every year. We’ll continue to improve the experience, make investments in the right areas.”

Hartman also was happy that the property was cleared less than an hour after Rhett finished around 10 p.m.

And after some deep breaths, work toward 2022 will start.

“Year-round planning goes into five hours of music,” he said.