Who isn’t excited for Happy Gilmore 2? We are only a few days away from its release. Everyone is already anticipating it to be as iconic as the first one. While fans eagerly await to watch the battle between Happy Gilmore and Shooter McGavin, they will also witness professional golfers on the screen. To Adam Sandler’s credit, he has been able to convince some big names to be a part of Happy Gilmore 2. And Will Zalatoris acknowledged the same during a recent podcast.

The PGA Tour pro joined Skratch in their latest episode. Speaking about what makes the movie exciting, Zalatoris said, “The part that it’s actually really good is the fact that we have guys from LIV, guys from the PGA Tour. And it’s like the top of the top. It just takes away that level of BS, and honestly, Adam is the one guy who could get us back in a room.” The film does include some golfers who wouldn’t ordinarily hang out together. Guys like Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Brooks Koepka are all featured. Sandler deserves a lot of credit for bringing them all together again. Especially after the rift that has been created between them over the past 3 years.

The only time the 4 are seen together is during the majors or the Showdown that they had back in December 2024. Shedding more light on Adam’s efforts, Will added, “If you were to say, ‘Hey, I want to get you 12 guys and we’re going to sit in a room,’ I guarantee you at least two of them would be like, ‘No, I’m good’. But Adam’s just one of the few guys on the planet that can get all of us hanging out together and make a fun movie.”

There might be some truth to what Zalatoris said, as LIV Golf and PGA Tour players don’t often see eye to eye. In the past, Tour pros have called out golfers who left the PGA Tour. Scottie has often told the media to ask LIV golfers for the reunification of golf. Efforts have been made to bring everyone together. Keegan Bradley invited Bryson and Brooks for dinner with the Tour pros for a Ryder Cup discussion. The Crushers GC captain wasn’t actually at the table, as weather conditions restricted him from flying out of Dallas, but he showed his support.

As Will further explained, “It’s not like there’s any animosity between us all. This is just the world of golf we’ve been in for the last three years. And this is literally what it took, just stating the facts. It was fun.” The 1-time PGA Tour champion believes that despite the rivalry between the leagues, there is no hate among its players. And when such opportunities present themselves, golfers don’t shy away from showing that they are still connected with the players from the other Tour. The same was seen during the Showdown, where Rory and Bryson were seen joking around with each other during practice.

Sandler clearly brought everyone together, but LIV’s former CEO and the PGA Tour’s outgoing Commissioner could not do it. Even the merger that was supposed to be finalized by December 31, 2023, is still underway, with no update in sight. Nevertheless, there have been quite a few incidents recently where top players from both the Tours have come to each other’s defence. It’s not all bad, after all.

The change in dynamics between the PGA Tour pros and LIV golfers

The competition is undoubtedly getting more intense than ever between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. The latter recently signed a new deal with HSBC Bank as their official International Banking Partners. The PGA Tour also announced a big change in management a few weeks ago, with Brian Rolapp slowly taking over as CEO from Jay Monahan. Despite all the changes, the players of both the Tours have been a bit more receptive of each other.

To everyone’s surprise, McIlroy had confessed that the PGA Tour players have benefited from the arrival of LIV Golf. He believes the purses for PGA Tour events wouldn’t have increased so much over the last few years if LIV Golf didn’t exist. Bradley had also defended the presence of DeChambeau and Koepka in the Team U.S. Ryder Cup dinner preceding the Truist Championship. He mentioned how they compete in challenging events, and they will add value to the Ryder Cup squad at Bethpage. With the departure of Greg Norman and with Jay Monahan also on his way out, hopefully, things will start getting better between the two Tours.