The sequel features many celebrity cameos, including golfers Scottie Scheffler, Will Zalatoris, John Daly, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka, as well as rapper Bad Bunny and athlete Travis Kelce.
Several scenes pay homage to the original movie, including a batting cage sequence and Will Zalatoris playing Happy’s former caddie who now resents him.
Running gags include John Daly squirting alcohol from a hand sanitizer bottle and Scottie Scheffler getting arrested again.
Spoiler alert! We’re discussing important plot points during ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ (streaming now). If you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t want to know anything about the plot, stop reading now!
The future of ‘regular golf’ is on the line and Happy Gilmore is a down-on-his-luck drunk and father of five who gave up the game years ago after he accidentally killed his wife, Virginia Venit, with a wayward drive off the tee. Shooter McGavin is in an insane asylum and Gilmore is working at a grocery store.
This is the foundation behind the beginning premise of ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ the highly-anticipated made-for-Netflix sequel of Adam Sandler’s classic 1996 golf film that was released by the streaming service on Friday, July 25. Sandler and much of the original cast returned to reprise their roles for a story set almost 30 years later, with plenty of nostalgic moments, people and scenes that call back to the first movie.
But the plot also plays off modern golf themes with a new renegade league promising more fun threatening the existence of ‘The Tour.’ Gilmore ends up having to save the sport, save himself, find enough money to send his daughter to ballet school in Paris and get grandma’s house back (after he lost it again following Virginia’s death). It’s a fun trip down memory lane fueled by sports, with much of the film taking place on golf courses, golf simulators, driving ranges and batting cages, as a bevy of celebrities and athletes appear on screen in various roles or as themselves.
Here’s a look at some of the best sports moments and cameos from ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ (and we’ll try not to spoil too much of the movie if you haven’t seen it yet, but beware):
Scottie Scheffler gets arrested … again
There were loads of recognizable golfers from the past and present in the film (although Tiger Woods is notably not one of them, despite being mentioned). But current world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler provided the most timely comic relief as the script called for a couple references to Scheffler’s infamous arrest at the 2024 PGA Championship.
Happy Gilmore shows Scheffler how to win a hockey fight at one point. Scheffler uses the skills late in the film when he punches an opponent when The Tour is in a showdown with evil, ‘Maxi Golf.’ Scheffler is disqualified and put in handcuffs, at which point he says, ‘Oh, no. Not again.’ Scheffler is later shown in prison, including a hidden scene after the credits. He also blows off an interview featuring goofy questions by Gary Potter, played again by actor and comedian Kevin Nealon.
Jack Nicklaus is a close second in the golf humor department when he orders a ‘half-lemonade, half-iced tea, refusing to call it an ‘Arnold Palmer.’
Will Zalatoris is Happy Gilmore’s former caddie
There are several modern-day twists on what happened in the first ‘Happy Gilmore,’ but the best might be the way the script capitalizes on PGA Tour golfer Will Zalatoris and his striking resemblance to the actor who played Gilmore’s caddie in the original film. For ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ Zalatoris plays himself but he’s also Gilmore’s former caddie and, unbeknownst to Gilmore, he’s now on Tour.
The two end up in the same group at The Tour Championship, with the grudge Zalatoris holds about the way Gilmore used to treat him serving as a catalyst for a fun montage showcasing Gilmore’s return to tournament golf. Gilmore ends up accidentally hitting Zalatoris with a snake, covering him in sand from the bunker and eventually tackles him into a pond just like the old days thinking Zalatoris likes it. Zalatoris, for good measure, is shown choking his own caddie like Gilmore once did to him, with Gilmore offering his approval.
Bad Bunny is Happy Gilmore’s new caddie thanks to evil Travis Kelce
Happy Gilmore’s new caddie winds up being Oscar, a waiter played by Puerto Rican actor and rapper Bad Bunny. Oscar gets unfairly fired by his boss, played by Travis Kelce, during the Tour Champions dinner attended by Gilmore. After Gilmore can’t persuade Kelce’s character he’s being too harsh, Oscar shows up at the first tee as Gilmore’s caddie still dressed in his waiter’s outfit and no clue what to do with Gilmore’s clubs.
Gilmore asks Oscar to go to his ‘happy place’ on the green for him at one point and it leads to a dream sequence in which Bad Bunny’s character lathers honey on Kelce’s character tied to a tree. A bear then approaches to eat Kelce before the camera cuts back to the golf course.
‘Uncle John Daly,’ Happy Gilmore’s drunk neighbor
Happy Gilmore’s daughter Vienna, played by Sunny Sandler, one of Sandler’s real-life children, initially calls John Daly, ‘Uncle John Daly.’ He lives next to Gilmore in the rougher neighborhood he has to move to when he loses all his money. Daly is treated as a quasi-family member in the film. As part of a running gag in the film in which Sandler’s character hides booze in an assortment of props and household items, Daly is frequently seen squirting booze into his mouth from a bottle of hand sanitizer.
But Daly, a recovering alcoholic in real life, also serves as a sounding board and confidant for Gilmore as he contemplates returning to golf, reminding him to, ‘Grip it and rip it.’
Boban goes streaking
Remember Mr. Larson, the large construction foreman who had a nail in his head courtesy of Happy Gilmore, only to become his biggest fan in the gallery? Well, he’s not in the sequel after chasing Shooter McGavin for Gilmore’s gold jacket. But his son, played by 7-foot-4 former NBA center Boban Marjanovic, appears in the film.
Like his father, Drago Larson comes to Gilmore’s aid from the gallery on the golf course when Gilmore falls off the wagon on Mother’s Day. Gilmore avoids arrest because the police have to chase after Boban’s character, who takes off his clothes and goes streaking down the fairway.
Happy Gilmore takes golf’s best to batting cage
The lead up to the film’s final competition (trying not to spoil too much) includes a scene in which Happy Gilmore takes Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Scheffler to the batting cages. This, he tells them, is how he used to get ready for big tournaments and there’s even a flashback to the memorable scene of Gilmore taking baseballs into the chest from the first movie. But DeChambeau proceeds to get hit below the waist and the rest of the world’s best golfers get taken out, too.