Will Zalatoris could win the 2021 Masters on Sunday. And he just so happens to bear a striking resemblance to Happy Gilmore’s young caddie.
The 24-year old PGA Tour golfer is getting all kinds of comparisons to the character played by Jared Van Snellenberg. The two look so similar that Adam Sandler himself even chimed in on Twitter, wishing the young man luck, telling him that “Mr. Gilmore is watching.”
“Have fun today young man,” the tweet reads. “Mr. Gilmore is watching you and very proud.”
The PGA Tour Twitter account responded to Adam Sandler’s tweet with a clip from a Zalatoris press conference.
“I’ve been starting to get that a little bit. I’ve been getting a lot of doppelganger, like Mr. Gilmore’s caddie or, you know, Owen Wilson. I’ve been getting a lot of that stuff lately,” he says in the video.
If you’ve never seen the Adam Sandler classic from 1996, here’s a clip showing Happy Gilmore’s caddy at The Waterbury Classic for reference.
Snellenberg could easily be a young Zalatoris. And the Masters competitor really is no stranger to the comparisons. In a recent video, he addressed his commitment to the resemblance.
Will Zalatoris literally has the “Mr. Gilmore, I’m your caddy” quote etched into one of his competition clubs. He’s clearly embracing the likeness.
But these days, Snellenberg and Zalatoris couldn’t look more different.
Grown-Up ‘Happy Gilmore’ Actor Far From Masters Doppelganger
It would’ve been great to see Jared Van Snellenberg grow up to become a tour pro competing for a Masters win alongside Will Zalatoris. But the child actor charted a very different path.
You may be surprised to learn that Snellenberg is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. But his profession isn’t the only thing that’s changed.
The professor has a completely different look going for him now.
Blonde hair? Gone. Sophisticated-looking facial hair? Check. The child actor has come a long way from his days of caddying for Happy Gilmore.
The Masters wraps up on Sunday. And at the time of this writing, Will Zalatoris is in second place, three strokes back from leader Hideki Matsuyama.
