CELEBRITY
Travis Kelce again SPOTTED having a leisure time playing golf with a friend – as fans are FURIOUS why he couldn’t travel to support Taylor Swift during Australia Tour “He doesn’t love Taylor”
Travis Kelce seems to be in no rush to hop on a plane to see his girlfriend Taylor Swift in Australia – choosing to spend time with his friends closer to home.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 34, joked around with a friend as they spent four hours on Sunday playing virtual rounds of golf in Parkville, Missouri, around 30 miles from his home in Kansas.
The keen golfer kept his head down as he and former Chief tight end Ross Travis carried their clubs to indoor golf course, X-Golf – where they were later seen leaving with takeaway boxes, exclusive DailyMail.com pictures show.
Kelce got behind the wheel of his electric Hummer and packed their equipment, balls, and other items into the back of the souped-up pickup truck after the session, which would have cost him $500 for the four-hour stint.
Kelce’s friend, Travis, 31, played alongside him in Kansas City from 2015 until he was waived in 2017. He also played briefly for the Indianapolis Colts. They are regularly seen hanging together.
It appears Kelce has been eager to stay close to home after the backlash over his ‘partying’ in the wake of the mass shooting that broke out last week at the Chiefs’ victory parade which saw more than 30 injured and one killed.
The NFL star had returned triumphant to Kansas City following their Super Bowl LVII win, before the tragedy unfolded.
Swift, 34, meanwhile, is currently on the Australian leg of her Eras Tour, leaving fans to speculate if Kelce will rush to support her in Melbourne after their romance dominated NFL coverage this season.
He had previously teased fans of his New Heights podcast, which aired on Wednesday, that he could be soon heading down under to see Swift.
Kelce added that next week’s podcast is a ‘guest’ episode which he is not featured in, which led fans to believe he could join his girlfriend in Sydney from February 23 – and maybe travel with her to Singapore for her shows in the first week of March.
But Swift’s boyfriend appears to be in no rush to make the long journey to Australia as of yet, opting to some downtime at home.
The golf outing came a day after the NFL star was seen driving his Rolls Royce to get lunch with a friend on Saturday.
He spent under an hour at one of his favorite haunts in the city, Rye, taking a to-go bag with him as he slipped out the back entrance of the busy restaurant.
On Sunday he looked calm as he returned from his four-hour long virtual golf session, despite receiving backlash for his partying antics.
He was hit with a barrage of criticism after he was pictured at a ‘scaled down’ party following the mass shooting at the Chiefs celebration parade.
Kelce and Swift each donated $100,000 to victims of the shooting, which saw 22 people rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds.
Police confirmed half of those injured were children.
The donation only came after he took waves of criticism for partying and posing for a smiling selfie with a police officer in the wake of the deadly shooting.
He was seen beaming at Granfalloon Restaurant and Bar on Wednesday in a snap obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com alongside several teammates and their WAGs – including quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife wife Brittany.
Kelce was part of a small group at the sports bar which also included Chiefs punter Tommy Townsend, center Creed Humphrey, tight end Matt Bushman and his wife Emily.
Local DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan was shot and killed in the incident which started as a ‘dispute’ between a group of two youths, according to investigators.
Two juveniles have been arrested and were charged on Friday in connection with the incident, but Missouri law means their hearing was held in private and no other details have been made public.
The pair appeared in Jackson County Family Court on gun-related charges as well as resisting arrest.
Authorities are expecting more charges against the teens which could see them tried as adults.
If they are charged with first degree murder they could receive the death penalty, according to Jackson County Court, so long as they were 16 at the time the offense was committed.
Nine children were injured during the incident, with Kelce donating the $100,000 through his charity, the Eighty-Seven & Running Foundation – an organization that aims to help ‘underserved youth strive to become productive citizens.’
The GoFundMe page was started by friends of the Reyes family, who had two young daughters wounded in the shooting.
It has already surpassed its $100,000 goal, as Swift donated to a fundraiser for Lisa, who was related to the two girls.
Mahomes and his wife Brittany visited the two sisters in hospital, with local media reporting that Travis also took the time to visit some of the injured children.
Kansas City Police and the FBI are looking for others who may have been involved and are calling for witnesses, victims, and people with cellphone video of the violence to call a dedicated hotline.
All the patients who were admitted to Children’s Mercy Hospital following the mass shooting have been discharged, with medics treating 12 patients.
In total at least 39 people were wounded with 23 suffering from gunshot injuries – including nine children.
The victims’ ages range between eight and 47, with the hospital confirming that the children should make a full recovery.
‘Thank you for your support and grace with our team members this past week,’, spokesperson Marlene Bentley said in a statement.
University Health said three shooting victims are still in the hospital’s care, with one remaining in critical condition while the other two are improving.
In total they treated eight patients with gunshot wounds and four with other injuries related to the rally.