PHOTOS: Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am

Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield played the TPC River Highlands for the first time Wednesday as a featured attraction at the Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am.

Wakefield was among more than a dozen celebrities who turned out for the annual fan favorite event, which drew thousands of spectators to the course in Cromwell.

Celebrities included former pro football stars Andre Tippett, Ahmad Rashad and Doug Flutie; Tony Award-winning actor James Naughton; WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter (whose bag was carried by 2013 WWE Hall of Fame inductee Bob Backlund); and UConn legends Geno Auriemma, Jennifer Rizzotti, Scott Burrell, Kevin Ollie and Chris Dailey.

Almost unnoticed in the final group of the day off the first tee was former PGA touring professional Lee Elder. The 78-year-old, who played as a guest of the new Back9Network, made history in 1975 by becoming the first African-American to play in the Masters, persevering despite hate mail and death threats.

The Back9Network, a golf-based lifestyle multimedia company which recently opened in Hartford, honored Elder and his wife Sharon by naming its main conference after them in a ceremony Tuesday night.