Rory McIlroy among PGA pros paying tribute to Happy Gilmore. Padraig Harrington still the king
And here are the tour pros' latest efforts at emulating it:
PGA TOUR pros try the famous Happy Gilmore swing!#HappyGilmore20 https://t.co/06iFBUFDg4
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 17, 2016
Rory McIlroy even threw in an impression
. @McIlroyRory's favorite line from 'Happy Gilmore.'
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 16, 2016
Follow PGATOURsnaps on Snapchat for more. https://t.co/5vu3hCmENh
Though nobody said it was a good impression. See what you think:
Lexi Thompson performed her own reenactment:
GO HOME BALL!
— Lexi Thompson (@Lexi) February 16, 2016
Can't believe #HappyGilmore turns 20 today, almost my age!
Thanks @adamsandler @happymadison #classic pic.twitter.com/DDMHVtpmYs
But of course nobody can touch Padraig Harrington:
Ben Crane: "The best run-and-step-hit player on the PGA TOUR is Padraig Harrington. I mean, if you ask him, say, do you have a Happy Gilmore swing and he hits it like 15 yards by his normal swing. And he hits it pure."
Here's one of Harrington's efforts at Valhalla two years ago
The pros assured PGAtour.com the banter still lives on the course:
Jonas Blixt: "'You can count on me waiting for you in the parking lot.' I use that one around the clubhouse. When someone says, 'Good luck today,' or 'Make some birdies,' you can say, 'You can count on me waiting for you in the parking lot.'"
Jimmy Walker: "One that we still use out here - you know when he hit it inside Shooter McGavin and he said, 'somebody's clooo-ser.' We still use that today."
Marc Leishman: “Whenever I hit someone, after we are sure they’re alright, my caddie will say 'you hit that guy' and I’ll say, 'He shouldn’t have been standing there.'"
The movie spoke to many of them:
Gary Woodland: "The putt-putt scene when he’s putting and it goes in the hole and comes out. It doesn’t matter how good you hit it, sometimes the ball doesn’t want to go in. That’s golf in a nutshell. Sometimes you want to break something."
Hunter Mahan: "The anger. I think we all felt his anger getting upset about stuff out here."
But not everyone was entirely on message:
Nick Watney: "I don't know if it was the greatest but definitely funny and it was kind of, I feel like, the height of Adam Sandler's comedic career. You definitely hear lines out here from time to time."
Bill Haas: "I don't remember where I was or anything but I do remember seeing it and I thought it was great. Certainly not a normal golf movie but I liked the actors, I thought it was funny and certainly I think one of the better golf movies."
Geoff Ogilvy: "I was more of a Caddyshack guy. Happy Gilmore - I didn't freak out about it but I liked it. It was just funny. I mean, Adam Sandler was funny. ... I was truly a Caddyshack junkie but not really a Happy Gilmore junkie. ... I don't think it's as iconic for the younger ones, is it? Gotta be kind of mid-30s and up (for Caddyshack), I think. Chevy Chase, they probably don't know who he is, some of these young guys, and Rodney Dangerfield."
Billy Horschel: "It’s in the top five. Caddyshack, Tin Cup, then probably Happy Gilmore."
Stewart Cink: "Wrong guy to ask. I've seen it but I am of the opinion that there's never been a good golf movie made. So I'm not a Caddyshack person or a Tin Cup person or a Happy Gilmore person."
