Will Zalatoris is a 24-year-old rising star who played his way into contention at the 2021 Masters. He’s a phenomenal ball-striker with a great attitude, and he also bares an uncanny resemblance to Happy Gilmore’s caddie.
Wait, no, not that caddie. Happy Gilmore’s other caddie. His first caddie. This guy…
That’s the one. And anyway, Zalatoris has fun with the comparison — so much so that he even has the caddie’s quote stamped on his wedge.
Coming into the final round of the Masters tied for second, Zalatoris needed some inspiration in order to catch overnight leader Hideki Matsuyama. Enter his old boss, Adam Sandler, AKA Happy Gilmore, who shared a funny quip about how “very proud” he was of the young man.
From caddying for Happy Gilmore at the 1996 Waterbury Open to in contention at Augusta National. He certainly has come a long way.
Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.
An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.