Golf Question of the Week: What is Hollywood’s Best Comedic Performance?

I chose to phrase the question this way for one reason: the most obvious choices from the silver screen shouldn't obscure some classics from the small screen.

With that qualifier, here are my top five choices, in ascending order:

• Kevin Costner, Tin Cup - Costner's an easy target to rip for spearheading some of Hollywood's most prolific, high-budget flops (Waterworld and The Postman come immediately to mind). But you can't look past his spot-on portrayal of Roy McAvoy, the rural Texas driving range pro who makes his rags-to-riches run at the U.S. Open Championship - with tons of belly laughs along the way.
• Adam Sandler, Happy Gilmore - The movie's pretty dumb, actually, and golf "purists" cringe at the thought of this film being included on any list that doesn't include the word "Worst." But any time you can mix golf with getting the snot beat out of you by Bob Barker, it gets a vote from me.
• Matt Damon, The Legend of Bagger Vance - What? This movie is a drama? Watch Damon swing a golf club in this movie. I rest my case.
• Ted Knight, Caddyshack - The movie itself is an obvious inclusion on any list of this type, but the actor isn't. Many people would put the performances of Chevy Chase, Bill Murray or Rodney Dangerfield ahead of Knight's on this list. Not me. Just way, way too many hilarious scenes with him that continue to stand the test of time.
• Jackie Gleason & Art Carney, "The Honeymooners" - Their episode, "The Golfer," is an American classic, made funnier to me by the fact that Gleason's fictional attempt to learn the game is set against the real-life backdrop of a man who had a true passion for the game, and even hosted his own PGA TOUR event (the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic, which has evolved into the present-day Honda Classic).

What's on your list?

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