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A wise man once said that there's a force in the universe that makes things happen.
"And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen and be the ball."
What would Ty Webb have said if he could have witnessed Michael O'Keefe on Sunday, searching for his errant drive that landed in the woods, between two trees and behind a bush?
"You're not being the ball, Danny."
"It's hard when you're talking like that."
O'Keefe has been an actor for more than 30 years, along the way having won Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, as well as a Theater World Award. He was educated at NYU and trained for a theatrical career. But he will always be best remembered as Danny Noonan, the teenage protege of Chevy Chase's playboy golf whiz Ty Webb in 1980's "Caddyshack."
Ty Webb: "I like you, Betty."
Danny Noonan: "It's Danny, sir."
Twenty-two years later, Danny Noonan is still learning the ropes. And having a great time.
"The thing about movies in the American consciousness is that, at a certain point, the ones that people remember, they always remember, and the ones that they love, they always love," said O'Keefe, who was participating in the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe. "Fortunately, I got to be in one or two of those movies that people love."
It is ironic that the actor forever linked with the most-quoted sports movie of all time only took up golf a year and a half ago. And so we find that being Danny Noonan is a coin with two sides -- he gets to play in the most popular celebrity tournament of them all, but, when he's lining up that difficult shot, there's always that joker in the gallery ready to yell: "Noonan!"
"I don't know that there's so much irony in that as much as it's an indication of the degree of the popular success of the picture," he said. "I was always trying to do the most versatile kind of take that I could on my own career."
Indeed, the year before "Caddyshack," in 1979, O'Keefe earned an Oscar nomination for his role in "The Great Santini." His other movie credits include "Ironweed," "The Pledge," "The Slugger's Wife," "The Glass House," and this year's "The Hot Chick," with Rob Schneider.
"'Caddyshack' was a breakthrough in the sense that it gave me the opportunity to do other comedies," he said. "I'm sure one of the reasons I got the part in "The Hot Chick" was because I had that experience in 'Caddyshack.'"
O'Keefe was also a regular on the TV sitcom "Roseanne" in the early 1990s. He is active on the New York stage, having appeared most recently on Broadway in "Side Man," which won a Tony.
His latest efforts include the Lifetime original movie "Defending Our Kids," with Annie Potts, which debuts tonight. He is also producing and starring in "Heaven," an original play set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, written by playwright George Walker. And Ty Webb would be pleased to know that O'Keefe took up Zen studies in 1986.
O'Keefe's game has a way to go -- greenskeeper Carl Spackler was not around on Sunday to set off explosives to knock his ball into the cup. Although he finished Sunday's final round with the fourth-worst total in the field at minus 53 -- there is one bit of advice from his "Caddyshack" mentor that stuck. In the scene where Judge Smails asks Ty what he shot, Ty replies: "Oh judge, I don't keep score." Judge Smails: "Then how do you measure yourself with other golfers?" Ty: "By height."
"It's really interesting to play under this kind of pressure, because I've added a lot of strokes to my game," said O'Keefe. "So what I did is I decided not to keep score. So I really don't know what I shot, and I wasn't really concentrating on my score as much as much as I was just trying to concentrate on building on my successes."
Still, as he tried to escape the underbrush off the ninth fairway on Sunday, O'Keefe couldn't help but laugh when a course official waved his arms frantically while yelling at spectators to "Take cover."
"Take cover?" mused O'Keefe. "That's a real confidence builder."
As for how many times he has been told to "Be the ball" since he arrived at the American Century, well, just take his final score and multiply by three. But in the spirit of his mentor, Danny Noonan has put it all in perspective.
"You know what? We are all already the ball," said O'Keefe. "We just have to realize that. When somebody says 'Be the ball,' they're just telling me what I already know about myself."
That's a little clearer than Ty Webb's advice:
"A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, it's a Danish."
"And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen and be the ball."
What would Ty Webb have said if he could have witnessed Michael O'Keefe on Sunday, searching for his errant drive that landed in the woods, between two trees and behind a bush?
"You're not being the ball, Danny."
"It's hard when you're talking like that."
O'Keefe has been an actor for more than 30 years, along the way having won Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, as well as a Theater World Award. He was educated at NYU and trained for a theatrical career. But he will always be best remembered as Danny Noonan, the teenage protege of Chevy Chase's playboy golf whiz Ty Webb in 1980's "Caddyshack."
Ty Webb: "I like you, Betty."
Danny Noonan: "It's Danny, sir."
Twenty-two years later, Danny Noonan is still learning the ropes. And having a great time.
"The thing about movies in the American consciousness is that, at a certain point, the ones that people remember, they always remember, and the ones that they love, they always love," said O'Keefe, who was participating in the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe. "Fortunately, I got to be in one or two of those movies that people love."
It is ironic that the actor forever linked with the most-quoted sports movie of all time only took up golf a year and a half ago. And so we find that being Danny Noonan is a coin with two sides -- he gets to play in the most popular celebrity tournament of them all, but, when he's lining up that difficult shot, there's always that joker in the gallery ready to yell: "Noonan!"
"I don't know that there's so much irony in that as much as it's an indication of the degree of the popular success of the picture," he said. "I was always trying to do the most versatile kind of take that I could on my own career."
Indeed, the year before "Caddyshack," in 1979, O'Keefe earned an Oscar nomination for his role in "The Great Santini." His other movie credits include "Ironweed," "The Pledge," "The Slugger's Wife," "The Glass House," and this year's "The Hot Chick," with Rob Schneider.
"'Caddyshack' was a breakthrough in the sense that it gave me the opportunity to do other comedies," he said. "I'm sure one of the reasons I got the part in "The Hot Chick" was because I had that experience in 'Caddyshack.'"
O'Keefe was also a regular on the TV sitcom "Roseanne" in the early 1990s. He is active on the New York stage, having appeared most recently on Broadway in "Side Man," which won a Tony.
His latest efforts include the Lifetime original movie "Defending Our Kids," with Annie Potts, which debuts tonight. He is also producing and starring in "Heaven," an original play set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, written by playwright George Walker. And Ty Webb would be pleased to know that O'Keefe took up Zen studies in 1986.
O'Keefe's game has a way to go -- greenskeeper Carl Spackler was not around on Sunday to set off explosives to knock his ball into the cup. Although he finished Sunday's final round with the fourth-worst total in the field at minus 53 -- there is one bit of advice from his "Caddyshack" mentor that stuck. In the scene where Judge Smails asks Ty what he shot, Ty replies: "Oh judge, I don't keep score." Judge Smails: "Then how do you measure yourself with other golfers?" Ty: "By height."
"It's really interesting to play under this kind of pressure, because I've added a lot of strokes to my game," said O'Keefe. "So what I did is I decided not to keep score. So I really don't know what I shot, and I wasn't really concentrating on my score as much as much as I was just trying to concentrate on building on my successes."
Still, as he tried to escape the underbrush off the ninth fairway on Sunday, O'Keefe couldn't help but laugh when a course official waved his arms frantically while yelling at spectators to "Take cover."
"Take cover?" mused O'Keefe. "That's a real confidence builder."
As for how many times he has been told to "Be the ball" since he arrived at the American Century, well, just take his final score and multiply by three. But in the spirit of his mentor, Danny Noonan has put it all in perspective.
"You know what? We are all already the ball," said O'Keefe. "We just have to realize that. When somebody says 'Be the ball,' they're just telling me what I already know about myself."
That's a little clearer than Ty Webb's advice:
"A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, it's a Danish."
