TEXAS GOLFER: You could be a lot of different places this weekend, playing golf with your buddies or at home, acting, traveling…what keeps bringing you to these televised golf events?
BILL MURRAY: I just like being out here. It’s golf, it’s a challenge, and it’s good. Plus it keeps me off the streets and serves humankind in a weird sort of way.
TG: You know how hard it is to become a successful actor. Does being out here at these tournaments show you how hard it is to be a professional golfer?
BM: Just like these guys could never be a professional actor, I know I could never be a professional golfer. There is no comparison to what they can do and what I can do even playing my best.
TG: Why is that?
BM: I was behind the green at least a dozen times during the tournament and I have no ideas how to get up and down. The only way I get the ball close to the pin is to get lucky. I really don’t know how they do it. Like when I hear guys say they’re going to go on the Champions Tour when they turn 50, I just laugh. If you’re not a plus 5 handicap to start with, what are you doing out here?
TG: I guess like acting or a lot of things, this game can humble you in a hurry.
BM: You know, yesterday Scott (Simpson) gave me a lot of help because I kept hitting balls in the water and he had some extra golf balls. I mean, that was the big thing. I was working towards double digits on lost balls. Usually if your lost ball count and your handicap match up, nobody complains, which is always a good thing, but they may not ask you back.
TG: Speaking of handicap, what is yours?
BM: I started out playing at an 18 when I first came to Pebble Beach and this year I was down to a 14. I played here at a 16, but at home (Sleepy Hollow GC in New York) I’m usually an 11-12, so I know I can do better.
TG: Why all the changes in your handicap lately?
BM: They gave me some extra shots at Pebble Beach because I’m hurt, really, but I didn’t feel it at all today. I tore my meniscus which is like a little part of the cartilage that holds your knee together and I wore a brace the last week or so. I didn’t wear it today and I played better—because it hurts. It’s just it hurts, the brace hurts, everything hurts.
TG: Which knee is it and how did you hurt it?
BM: It’s the right knee. I did it playing golf actually at Prairie Dunes in Kansas. I played with my brother in the member-guest last November. The whole golf course is on sand hills in Kansas, and every time you get out of the cart, you like torque your knee. It doesn’t feel like there’s one time that does it or anything, but it’s just sort of like it’s like fraying a piece of muslin or something. You just keep thinning it out and thinning it and very much stretching it, and then it just sort of rips like that.
TG: Anybody who has ever seen you play knows you like to have fun out here, joking and interacting with the crowd. Is it harder to play serious or is it harder for you to play better with people around?
BM: Well, when I play by myself or when I play with people just like a foursome, I’m not—I’m just pretty much playing golf. I have a nice time and people think—people think it’s going to be like, you know, I don’t know what, a day at the races or something. But you know, it’s just different when there’s a crowd because you know I found that all of these people standing around here at the golf course, they would love to have a little fun. They are standing there all day and someone comes along and they make a putt and it’s like—there’s nothing. Everyone’s trying to have a good time at a golf tournament. It’s not very hard to do. I don’t know if you’ve ever walked around with us, but it’s not very spooky what we’re doing out there.
TG: So cutting up doesn’t appear to hurt your game, it may even help, right?
BM: It’s pretty easy. Would it make my game any different? I’ve played well in a foursome with people on an empty golf course. It just kind of more fun this way.
TG: Have you ever played with Tiger Woods?
BM: Never played with Tiger before, but I played with Arnold Palmer once and he was really grinding to get a score.
TG: I know you heard it from the crowd in Tampa this weekend and I’m sure you here it every time you play in a tournament. Do you ever get beaten down by Caddyshack references or people quoting lines from the movie when you’re playing?
BM: Beaten down? Well, no. Do you ever get beaten down from people saying you’re not tall or have bad eyesight? It’s just what it is.
TG: Have you every won a tournament as a team before this weekend?
BM: No, not actually. We’ve been right up there at AT&T when it got rained out.
TG: What about individually?
BM: I won my flight once in match play, yeah at (New York) Sleepy Hollow.
TG: What’s the best score you've ever shot?
BM: I’m not sure. I think I shot 75 once at Sleepy Hollow, but I don’t think I ever shot anything lower than that.
TG: Thanks for the time.
BM: OK, now you’re baiting me. You ask me questions, you thanked me and now you’re baiting me. That’s it. |
