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Brooklyn Beckham was introduced to the crowd dotted around the first tee on Wednesday morning as a 'photographer'. Beckham smiled sheepishly. His photographer phase was several career iterations ago. He has been a chef and an influencer since then. Now, he is running a booming premium organic hot sauce company, Cloud 23.
It is safe to say, however, that David Beckham's estranged eldest son will not be adding 'professional golfer' to his ever-expanding resume.
He got Europe's defence of the Ryder Cup off to a decidedly shaky start at Bethpage Black when he and his partner, former Chicago Bulls star, Toni Kukoc, were roundly beaten in the first match of the USA-Europe Celebrity Match.
Beckham, 26, said after the round that he only started playing the sport last week and does not yet have a handicap so it was not exactly a surprise that he spent his round trying and failing to hit shots out of bunkers, dribbling drives 30 yards off the tee, spraying shots into trees and searching in vain for a ball he hooked into the woods at the second.
Dwarfed by 6ft 11ins Kukoc, Beckham spent much of the round with his head in his hands as they were trounced by former New York Giants quarter back Eli Manning, a huge crowd favourite here, and American comedian Colin Jost, in a defeat that set the tone for a US team win.
But there was a silver lining. Beckham did his bit for the charm offensive that Europe are mounting here to try to neuter the hostility of the rowdy New York crowds that will swarm here over the weekend by playing so poorly that the galleries were too busy feeling sorry for him to heckle him with any real enthusiasm.
Brooklyn Beckham was introduced a a 'photographer' when playing for Team Europe's celebrity team at the Ryder Cup
He and his partner, former Chicago Bulls star, Toni Kukoc, were roundly beaten in the first match of the USA-Europe Celebrity Match
He also adhered to the template that Luke Donald and his players have adopted here by signing autographs and posing for selfies with American fans whenever he was asked to and generally establishing a rapport with fans notorious in golf for their partisan volatility.
There have already been echoes this week of the tactics employed by Europe's 2004 Ryder Cup captain, Bernhard Langer, at Oakland Hills, outside Detroit, where he encouraged polarising stars like Colin Montgomerie to draw the sting of the galleries with positive interaction rather than trying to inflame them with rhetoric.
The European team have been drawing from that playbook here as the build-up to Friday's start gathers pace. On Tuesday, a long line of European players walked slowly up the slope between the 17th green and the 18th tee, signing scores of flags and pictures.
`Justin Rose even heeded the entreaties of a bare-chested and well-refreshed American fan who begged him to sign his shirt. Rory McIlroy spent so long signing autographs for kids that he had to run up the last bit of the slope so as not to keep his playing partners waiting.
Tommy Fleetwood maintained the conciliatory, flattering tone when he was asked about the home fans on Wednesday morning. 'Everybody was amazing yesterday,' he said. 'The job of the home crowd is to support the home team. You wouldn't hold anything against anybody in that way.
'But yesterday they were amazing. They were very supportive of us, and it's important.
To engage with them here is really important. It's great. It's great to soak up that atmosphere, whether it's home or away.
'Like I say, they were all amazing yesterday. I loved interacting with them. I loved signing stuff, seeing the kids and all of that. I thought that was great.
Beckham adhered to the template that Luke Donald and his players have adopted here by signing autographs
'Yeah, it's different when it's go time, like when it's time to play. I think that's like every other tournament, except this one is hyped up. When it's time to play, I've always felt like I really just want to focus on my game, focus on each shot, try and get into my bubble as much as possible, especially when I'm coming in to play my shots.'
Justin Rose, who also spent an age signing autographs and chatting with fans in a crowded walkway between the 16th green and 17th tee said the atmosphere held no fears for him, either, whether Europe's charm offensive works or not.
'There comes a point where it just becomes noise,' Rose said, 'and it just becomes colour and noise. If it gets to that point, then it won't do us much harm.'
His cameo supporting role completed, Beckham said he was unable to stick around to watch the competition this weekend. I asked him if he was going to watch Inter Miami, the team part-owned by his father, play New York City at Citi Field on Wednesday night.
The stadium is half an hour's drive from Bethpage Black but Beckham just shook his head. 'My company is just a year old,' he said. 'I've got to get back to LA and back to work.'
