In Bill Murray’s book “Cinderella Story,” there is one story that perfectly illustrates Murray’s fun-loving approach to playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
One year a rowdy group of about 500 college students cheered Murray, who stopped to chat them up. When he stepped back onto the green, his caddy handed him a beer.
Murray took the cup, toasted the group, and took a sip, but as he did, fans chanted “Go! Go! Go!” Murray downed the beer then slammed the cup into the green before strutting away.
As the pro-am tees off Thursday, let’s look back at some of Murray’s greatest hits.
Wearing a hat that was a replica of Minneapolis’ Metrodome in his debut, Murray asked the crowd at one tee, “Hey, how about a little support for my partner, John Adams?” The crowd cheered, Adams stared, and Murray said, “We’re going to whip this crowd into a frenzy for you, John.” Then Murray looked out over the Pacific Ocean. “God, there’s a lot of water,” he said, “and that’s just the top.”
After holing out of a bunker in 1993, Murray pulled an elderly female spectator, and the two danced in the sand until they both fell down. The now-legendary highlight clip was played on TV stations across the country. One moment that wasn’t caught on TV: Later when Murray shouted, “Hurry up” at then-Vice President Dan Quayle, who was putting.
In 1994, PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman criticized Murray’s behavior as “inappropriate and detrimental,” and CBS virtually ignored Murray during their telecast. Murray suggested Beman was creating “a Nazi state out here.” Earlier, Murray asked the gallery “Is this the best foursome
of the day or what?” “Palmer’s was better,” someone joked. “Shut up, Gramps,” Murray joked back.
With Beman out as PGA commissioner and Tim Finchem in, Murray was invited back after all, and while he said Beman’s criticism hurt, he decided to return.
“I figured, well, I’ll try again,” Murray said. “But if it can’t be fun, then I’ve got a lot of books to read, some cleaning around my house to do.”
In 1996, Murray played the final round in denim overalls and won. At the awards ceremony, AT&T’s chairman said, “I can’t believe I’m giving a check to someone dressed like you.”
Murray replied, “I can’t believe I’m taking a check from someone like you.” Earlier, a spectator offered Murray a sip of champagne and said her house was right near the tee. “That house?” Murray asked, pointing to it. “Somebody give me a golf ball.” Murray threw the ball and hit one of the large picture windows.
When then-Cubs first baseman Mark Grace hit a shot into a bunker in 1997, a fan yelled, “Not bad for a Cub.” Murray shouted in mock anger, “Who said that? The man with the square head?” Later, Grace took a baseball bat out of his bag, handed a golf ball to Murray’s longtime partner Scott Simpson and drilled a pitch into the ocean. Simpson and Murray did the same.
Murray told one gallery, “I’m an athlete this week. Red wine only.”
Murray convinced his 2001 partners Edward Fryatt, Mark Grace and Scott Simpson to compete in a piggyback race to the next hole. Then he autographed a spectator’s arm.
In 2003, Murray, a longtime Bears fan, congratulated Emmitt Smith on becoming the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, and said, “You know, that was Walter (Payton’s) record. And if you were a little imp of a man, I’d come after you.”
He missed the 2004 tourney to film “The Life Aquatic” in Italy, but he still got a long-distance laugh. With a nod to a federal prison down the highway from the course, Murray told Simpson to pass along a message to fans: “Tell them I’m locked up in Lompoc but I’ll see them soon.”
