“Caddyshack” Always Celebrated at Phoenix Open
flickr user: jamiemyslicki
One of the most beloved golf movies of all time, “Caddyshack,” celebrated its 30th birthday yesterday.
Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield received accolades for their performance when it debuted on July 25, 1980. Their trio of talent and humor helped the movie gross $3.1 million its opening weekend and nearly $40 million on the year—quite the feat for a movie debuting in 1980!
While avid golfers far and wide can appreciate and agree upon the movie’s genius, it’s only those of us here in Scottsdale that get to turn our favorite “Caddyshack” moments into real-life experiences.
The movie has become a cult favorite. In fact, there’s an unspoken code among golfers that says you must be able to recite every line by memory before you are accepted into the gentleman’s club.
On more than one occasion, fans in the galleries at the TPC Scottsdale have been known to yell out “Caddyshack” references during the Phoenix Open. The fans attending TPC Scottsdale, home of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, seem particularly smitten by the movie.
When DiMarco was standing over a putt at the raucous 16th hole in 2002, a fan recreated a scene in the movie by yelling out, “Noonan.” DiMarco made the putt anyway and went on to victory.
Scott Verplank also heard the “Noonan” distractions at 16. “There are probably not many movies where you have people recite lines from it at the Phoenix Open — where there are 15,000 people around the green — and someone is yelling ‘Noonan’ and everybody there knows what it means,” Verplank told the Tulsa World. “Any movie that has people talking about it 30 years later is obviously a hell of a movie.”
Indeed. TOUR pro Joe Durant told the New York Daily News that he travels with a “Caddyshack” DVD and watches it when he’s feeling down. “It’s a great pick-me-up,” Durant said.
Stuart Appleby told the Daily News that “Caddyshack” is simply “the greatest film of the 20th century.”
Fans of “Gone With The Wind” might argue otherwise, but the point is this: Golfers love “Caddyshack.” Now 30 years old, its popularity does not seem to be fading.
“Caddyshack,” Murray once said, “was a great thing.”
If you don’t think so, just ask any golfer.
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