Threety years ago, a comedian-actor Bill Murray joined forces with Scott Simpson, PGA Tour pro to create an unstoppable duo at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Simpson is currently in his second year at University of Hawaii as men’s coach of golf.
Simpson relates that Murray was a pro-am player the year before with John Adams, a journeyman pro. Simpson recalled watching Murray’s antics in the gallery on television and thinking that they were funny. Adams, however, complained that he was distracted by the activity and couldn’t concentrate on his game.
Simpson said that Simpson told Simpson, “It’s really just not much fun.” “I went to putting green after and Peter Jacobsen, who has played for many years with Jack Lemmon, was there. I said to him, “Peter,” and he replied, “Peter, can this be John Adams saying that this isn’t fun?” It’s the best time you can have on the course, playing with Bill Murray. He was my mentor. He was my friend Larry Mize’s caddie, and Bones told him, “You tell Murray you want to play next year with Murray.” Actually, Bones actually left me for Mickelson, which was awesome, you know. He got this talented guy and I was so happy for him. He said, “But there’s one item I want, one I’m going ask you for, and that’s to caddie for your group with Bill Murray next season.” Even though he was working at Phil, he did so for me at Pebble.
Jacobsen and Mackay convinced Simpson to write a letter asking for Murray’s participation to the tournament. It looked like a mismatch with Simpson. Simpson is a regular at bible study meetings and was considered too stoic for Murray’s on-course schtick. Officials asked Simpson two weeks before the tournament if he wanted to continue playing with Murray.
Simpson stated, “Absolutely.” “No one wanted him to play with them, and I thought, you know, I don’t care what I shot. This will be the best week of my life. I didn’t care. Because I have the front row seat. He would cut it into people, and people would start to clap because they knew that he was coming towards them.
They had these women who would bake cookies for all the AT&T executives. He’d say, “Can I have one of these?” Yes, Mr. Murray. The next thing you know, he grabs all of the bags and is distributing them to the audience. Spyglass was his first time there. He went to a Ben & Jerry’s cart and asked: “Can I have one of those?” Oh, sure. The next thing you know, he’s giving one to everyone in the crowd. He gave him $500 and just went over to the guy. It was just like that.”
Simpson had so much fun the first year, that he signed up year after year to continue playing with Murray.
“I told him, ‘You can play together with another person, you know. He replied, “Oh, no, it’s not fair. We have to win it.” He then said, “We’ve got two rules.” Simpson stated, “We’re going have the most fun and win.”
Simpson and Murray played 13 times together between 1993 and 2007. They tied for fourth in the pro-am division (2004) but didn’t win the trophy. Murray was Simpson’s partner in the 2006 First Tee Open.
D.A. finally won him the championship. He wins points (in 2011) and Letterman asks him: ‘So Bill, you won that tournament out there?’ ‘Yes, Dave. Big deal.’ He says, ‘You know, my partner D.A. Letterman says, “You know, my partner D.A. won the pro thing.” He continues, “Yeah Dave, I played for 14 years with Scott Simpson. He brought me down Dave. He took me down. Simpson chuckles as he turns to look at the camera. That was so classic. “You knew you did.” Geez. It was great fun.
