FILE PHOTO: Golf - PNC Championship - The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Orlando, Florida, U.S. - December 19, 2021 Former professional baseball player Ken Griffey Jr. of the U.S. during the Pro-Am REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Eagle-eyed fans spotted a celebrity off the links and lurking in the photographer pool at Augusta National this week, as baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. took his first turn as an accredited member of the Masters media.
While most A-list celebrities might seek out the VIP treatment at the year's first major, Griffey picked up a camera and got to work, mixing in with the crowd at golf's hallowed course.
"Behind the lens," the PGA Tour tweeted, with a photograph of the Seattle Mariners hero. "Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. is working as a credentialed photographer for the first time."
It is not the former AL MVP's first foray into sports photography as Griffey, who retired from baseball in 2010, reportedly worked on the sidelines at an NFL game two years ago and at an MLS game featuring Lionel Messi's Inter Miami.
Known as the man with the sweetest swing in the game in his 22-year MLB career, Griffey was far from Seattle but instantly recognisable in Augusta, where Golf Magazine writer Dylan Dethier showed off one of his photos from the Par-3 contest.
Dethier reported that Griffey would be working the entire week.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; editing by Clare Fallon)
