Travis Kelce, Jimmy Fallon, Patrick Mahomes, and Justin Timberlake joined hands to play some golf at the 8 AM Invitational in 2022 at Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas. Timberlake hosts the tournament every year, but in 2022, things took a wild turn for Kelce, as Fallon threw his putter away in the lake. But did you know that this move got the lake a new name?

Kelce had a terrible putt in that invitational, and Fallon was upset about it. To showcase his emotions, the talk show host asked Kelce for his ball. Instead, the tight end handed his putter over to him. Fallon initially planned to throw Kelce’s ball into the lake. But when the football star gave him the putter, he had to play through and put the putter “six feet under.”

The story resurfaced in August 2025, when the NFL analyst, Ian Rapoport, joined Claire Rogers for a brief talk while sharing some ice cream. Therein, Rapoport recollected a conversation between him and his caddy from a time when he met up with the Raiders in Vegas and then went on to play some golf. And his caddy brought up the story of Jimmy Fallon throwing Travis Kelce’s putter in the pond. 

Initially, the NFL analyst didn’t believe his caddy. But when he took to Instagram and put his doubts on the platform, Kelce responded with, “That’s my lake.’ Like, ‘Say hi to my putter for me.” 

That reeled in another piece of information from Claire Rogers. She said, “Well, now they have a plaque up there, and it says ‘Lake Travis’. And it kinda says the story. Yeah, he was there. They were there this year, but the last time he was there, too, they had like this whole ceremony, and Fallon presented him with a golden putter.”

In the 2023 Invitational, Kelce tied a string to his club as a contingency plan. Instead, Fallon threw the Plaque that said ‘Lake Travis’ into the water. Who knew Lake Travis would end up in Lake Travis! 

But why did Fallon throw Kelce’s putter in the water?

Jimmy Fallon reveals the real reason why he threw Travis Kelce’s putter away

During a conversation with Travis Kelce on the New Heights Show, Fallon clarified, “I looked at you and said, ‘Give it to me.’ I thought you were gonna give me the ball. And I was gonna take his ball, and throw his ball in the lake…So he just gives me his putter…My brain had to make a quick decision…So I just roll with it, and I whipped the putter into the lake.”

But it was a moment that marked a point of growth for the tight end. Before Jimmy Fallon talked about his story, Kelce thanked him for throwing away his putter. The reason? It made his putting even better. Yes, he still misses his putts, but his success rate did increase. 

After Fallon talked about his stance, Kelce remarked, “The shackles were off me at that point, though, I was like, ‘I’m free.’”

Kelce’s lost putter became a defining moment, transforming a mishap into golf lore and personal growth. But what’s your opinion on this incident? Let us know all about it in the comments down below.  

Written by

Krushna Pattnaik

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu