Every year the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am includes celebrities in the PGA Tour event, and every year the most popular celebrity is, by far, Bill Murray. And Murray has a lot of fun, and gets a lot of laughs (and along the way plays some pretty good golf). The fans love him, the PGA Tour pros appear to love him, the television network cameras certainly love him.
James Garner hates him.
Rather, Garner hates Murray's often-silly, attention-grabbing antics during the tournament. You know Garner, right? The veteran actor of many, many movies, but probably best-known as private detective Jim Rockford from the classic 1970s series The Rockford Files.
Garner is (or was, until his health and advancing age got in the way) an avid golfer, and played in the PGA Tour's celebrity pro-ams for many years himself. His love of golf and experiences in the game play a big enough part in Garner's memoir, The Garner Files, that Golf Digest excerpts the book in its December 2011 issue.
That excerpt includes Garner's thoughts about Murray, which start off with Garner saying Murray's "behavior at the AT&T is a disgrace," and continues thusly:
Well. Alrighty, then.
I'm not a fan of the tour's pro-ams myself; coverage of the celebrities and other amateurs gets in the way of watching the good golf - the tour players. That's just me, and I'm probably in the minority. But there's a reason a few tournaments do include celebrities. That reason is that they believe having Bill Murray and other celebs raises the profile of the event, increases attendance and increases ratings. If tour players were complaining about Murray's behavior, if fans were complaining, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am would have uninvited Murray long ago. Most of all, if the television networks thought that Murray was turning off viewers, rather than causing them to tune in, they'd stop showing so much of Murray during their broadcasts.
Instead, they sometimes seem to show more of Murray than of the PGA Tour guys. Because Murray is hugely popular with golfers. Not popular with all golfers, clearly, but with most golfers.
Garner himself has always been very popular, both as an actor and as a seemingly unassuming, and obviously straight-shooting, person. The excerpt of his book in Golf Digest is worth seeking out; it includes many interesting tidbits.
James Garner hates him.
Rather, Garner hates Murray's often-silly, attention-grabbing antics during the tournament. You know Garner, right? The veteran actor of many, many movies, but probably best-known as private detective Jim Rockford from the classic 1970s series The Rockford Files.
Garner is (or was, until his health and advancing age got in the way) an avid golfer, and played in the PGA Tour's celebrity pro-ams for many years himself. His love of golf and experiences in the game play a big enough part in Garner's memoir, The Garner Files, that Golf Digest excerpts the book in its December 2011 issue.
That excerpt includes Garner's thoughts about Murray, which start off with Garner saying Murray's "behavior at the AT&T is a disgrace," and continues thusly:
"He thinks he's mocking the whole thing by dressing like a slob and putting with the wrong end of the putter, but he's only making an ass of himself. He should have been banned from the tournament years ago after he tried to dance with that old lady in the bunker, and she fell down. I don't care if she didn't mind - I did. I'm glad I was never paired with him, because I would have refused to play."
Well. Alrighty, then.
I'm not a fan of the tour's pro-ams myself; coverage of the celebrities and other amateurs gets in the way of watching the good golf - the tour players. That's just me, and I'm probably in the minority. But there's a reason a few tournaments do include celebrities. That reason is that they believe having Bill Murray and other celebs raises the profile of the event, increases attendance and increases ratings. If tour players were complaining about Murray's behavior, if fans were complaining, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am would have uninvited Murray long ago. Most of all, if the television networks thought that Murray was turning off viewers, rather than causing them to tune in, they'd stop showing so much of Murray during their broadcasts.
Instead, they sometimes seem to show more of Murray than of the PGA Tour guys. Because Murray is hugely popular with golfers. Not popular with all golfers, clearly, but with most golfers.
Garner himself has always been very popular, both as an actor and as a seemingly unassuming, and obviously straight-shooting, person. The excerpt of his book in Golf Digest is worth seeking out; it includes many interesting tidbits.
Comments
Why are you guys rehashing another interview from right after February, when Bill Murray won Pebble Beach?
Where is Bill Murray, anyway? He used to be everywhere. Now, it’s like he’s dropped off the face of the planet!
Where is Bill Murray these days? He used to be seen everywhere. Now, anyone reporting a Bill Murray sighting is rare. He hasn’t been looking well, either. That’s got me worried he might be sick (or worse).
Garner is spot on. Murray is a shame, and every place I have seen him he makes you feel embarrassed for him. He is part of the Anna Nichole Smith, Osbornes, Kardashians, watch me make a fool off myself, culture. Classless, but no doubt good ratings for the audience that they are catering to. But keep the Soupy Sales antics away from grace of Fred Astaire. I, for one, stopped watching, but who really cares.
Bill Murray is a good and versatile actor and he does the job they bring him to the Pro-Am for really well. I used to watch Pebble Beach for years. But, over the years the Broadcasters, in their infinite wisdom, decided it was more about entertaining the masses than about showing good golf. So I stopped watching because that’s just not my “cup of tea”. Good luck to them and to Bill Murray.
FINALLY! Thank you Mr. Garner for pointing out the obvious! SOMEBODY HAD TO FINALLY SAY IT! Murray is just a joke. I would not miss him, his whoopee cushion or his antics one bit. He is simply a disturbance to the other players out there and I don’t think that anybody wants to see a grown man acting like a five year old.
I tend to agree Jim Garner’s right , Golfs easy hard to play , comedy is tough, Bill Murray good not the right balance for Pebble Beach , …
I love Bill Murray in his movies. Caddyshack just for starters. But A Pro-Am like the Crosby is not the place for his type of humor. I think Jim Garner was one of the few who had the guts to say something about how the whole atmosphere has changed for the worse. I don’t watch it for that reason and that’s a shame!
While I’ve always enjoyed James Garner’s work, and feel that “The Rockford Files” may be the single greatest television show of its genre ever produced (no exaggeration), he really missed the boat on this one.
I like it when celebrities go out on a limb and say what they really feel and I respect Mr. Garner for it, but I believe he’s simply wrong. Golf fans, including me, have all year to watch incredibly overpaid golfing pros be serious and intense while whispering commentators tell us how great they all are. What’s wrong with a little fun on occassion? Bill Murray is very funny and his outrageous antics are a welcome relief in a pro-am setting. Remember Dean Martin and crew at the old Tucson Open? Lots of fun there and great memories… ditto with the tournaments Sammy Davis Jr., Glen Campbell and other celebrities used to host.
And speaking of Mr. Garner, didn’t he get into fisticuffs at a golf tournament around 1980 or so? Murray’s nuttiness in Europe notwithstanding, at least he didn’t beat anybody up – whether they needed it or not.
Lighten up, Jim. Enjoy the golf – and the fun. If we all lived our lives more like Lee Trevino instead of Tiger Woods, we’d all be a lot happier.