25 days until golf: Fight with Barker leads to huge fine for Gilmore
The PGA Tour plans to restart its season June 11 after halting due to the coronavirus pandemic. Each day until then, we'll highlight key moments, people, or facts relating to where we are in the countdown.
Warning: Video contains coarse language
Whether Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods is the best golfer of all time is one of the best debates in the sport. When it comes to naming the most awe-inspiring player in history, however, it's a short list that starts and ends with Happy Gilmore.
A hockey player by trade, Gilmore took up golf to help his grandmother settle a $270,000 debt to the IRS. What he lacked in traditional golf skill, he made up for with his prodigious length while routinely launching drives 400-plus yards.
He took the PGA Tour by storm with his highly entertaining play, immediately drawing the ire of fellow pros such as star Shooter McGavin. The veteran eventually hires a heckler to bother Gilmore during play, with things boiling over during a Pro-Am event when Happy was paired with television legend, Bob Barker.
The Tour would suspend Gilmore for a month and fine him $25,000 following the fight with Barker, a massive amount at the time. While most deemed the penalty excessive, McGavin urged the commissioner to take further steps and "kick him off the tour."
Gilmore would pay the fine and serve the suspension before enacting his revenge on McGavin at the Tour Championship. Despite a freak car accident littering the 18th green with all sorts of debris, Gilmore would sink an incredible final putt to claim the title over McGavin.
As for the actual PGA Tour and its history of fines, the organization is notoriously tight-lipped regarding the monetary amounts tied to player discipline. A few notable exceptions include John Daly's $30,000 fine at an event in 1993 for hitting a drive over the heads of spectators, and Rory McIlroy's $25,000 fine (later reduced to $5,000) for throwing a club in the lake at Doral in 2015.