Want to get up close and personal with Carl Spackler? Today's your lucky day.
Bill Murray, who played Caddyshack's gonzo gopher-hunting groundsman, is the biggest celebrity name at this weekend's Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am at the TPC of Tampa Bay in Lutz.
A handful of celebrities will tee it up with pros like Mark O'Meara and Nick Price on Friday and Saturday. The question is, can the stars measure up to the pros on the scorecard? We don't have all their handicaps, but that won't stop us from handicapping the field.
Bill Murray: With Bob Hope gone, Murray has become golf's greatest celebrity ambassador, from his memoir Cinderella Story: My Life in Golf to his innumerable appearances at charity golf events, where he's more than happy to goof around with the crowd. He's reportedly a 14 handicap, and his interview with Hunter S. Thompson was one of the last pieces the good doctor ever published. So he's got that going for him, which is nice.
Huey Lewis: Well, there's his epic album Sports, of course. The News frontman carries a 10 handicap, and he plays nearly every year in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. "The appeal (of golf) for anybody in the public eye is you get away from people," Lewis told the San Francisco Chronicle. "You're away from people and phones, and it can be as challenging as you like."
Jim Courier: The four-time Grand Slam winner from Dade City is an Outback Pro-Am veteran. Of note: Courier writes, throws and plays tennis right-handed, but bats and plays golf left-handed.
Joe Theismann: It's probably not wise to mention the word "handicap" around the former Redskins quarterback, whose career-ending leg fracture in 1985 became the standard for gruesome football injuries. His career-best round, a 69, came in 1999.
Boomer Esiason: The former Bengals quarterback sponsors a golf tournament benefitting his charity, which raises money for cystic fibrosis, a disease from which his son Gunnar suffers.
Derrick Brooks: The Bucs' defensive leader also has a charity golf tournament, the Derrick Brooks Celebrity Golf Classic, slated this year for May 6 and 7 at Old Memorial Golf Club. But is he any good? "He hits a long way, but he has no idea where it's going," linebacker Barrett Ruud said in December. "He's probably the funniest guy to play with because he's always talking to his clubs. But he'll hit his pitching wedge as far as I hit my 6-iron because he swings so hard."
Ronde Barber: "My hobbies and leisure activities include golf, golf and more golf," Barber told NFLPlayers.com. Fair enough. The All-Pro lives near Westchase Golf Club, has hosted pro golfers like Ernie Els at Bucs games, and reportedly carries a single-digit handicap. Twin brother Tiki occasionally serves as Ronde's caddie.
Shelton Quarles: Yet another football star with a charity tournament, the IMPACT Foundation's Charity Golf Classic, slated for Feb. 26 at Black Diamond Ranch Golf Club in Lecanto. Quarles has also sponsored an eight-week golf clinic for at-risk elementary schoolchildren.
Ray Knight: We're sure the former New York Met is a good golfer, but he's definitely not the best in his household. That honor would go to wife Nancy Lopez, an LPGA Hall of Famer with 48 wins, including three majors. That's not to say the former World Series MVP is a slouch. "After we were first married, I used to give him six strokes a side," Lopez said in 2001. "Now I'm giving him two a side."