San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Bateman savors Pro-Am return
PEBBLE BEACH — As actor Jason Bateman waited on the No. 3 tee, a female spectator good-naturedly asked if he had washed his hair Friday. Bateman paused in momentary contemplation, smirked and replied, “No, but the rain gives it nice texture.”
Then the woman wondered about Bateman’s friend Will Arnett, playing one group behind him. Bateman, without missing a beat, said, “No, his hair is glued on.”
Bing Crosby would approve of Bateman’s return to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am after a 31year absence. This is what inspired Crosby to launch the old Clambake, using golf as a way to bring the sports and entertainment worlds together.
Bateman, known mostly for his work on “Arrested Development” (with Arnett) and more recently on the Netflix series “Ozark,” came with the right attitude. He clearly cares about golf, but he spent little time bemoaning wayward shots and way more time posing for selfies with wide-eyed fans.
And, not surprisingly to listeners of their popular “SmartLess” podcast with Sean Hayes, Bateman also traded barbs with Arnett. After their rounds Friday, upon learning The Chronicle was working on a story about Bateman, Arnett laughed loudly within earshot of his buddy — and then asked his pro-am score. Bateman: “Eight-under.” Arnett: “That’s cute, dude. We’re at 12.”
Moments later, asked if he wished he were playing with Bateman so he could hassle him throughout their nearly six-hour rounds, Arnett replied, “No, I’m glad. I don’t need his attitude.”
Bateman, 54, broke into television as a kid, doing a cereal commercial at age 11 and launching his television career on “Little House on the Prairie” and soon thereafter appearing on “Silver Spoons.” He was an avid golfer in his 20s, even making an AT&T appearance in 1992 at age 23.
Then he abruptly stopped playing, busy with his career and later with young kids. He picked it up again in 2020, when the pandemic hit and golf counted as one of the few activities with built-in social distancing.
After his second or third round, when he began hitting the ball well, Bateman called his publicist and asked about contacting Pro-Am officials to see if they might have a spot for him. He had a conflict last year, after regrettably scheduling his “SmartLess” tour in early February, but it worked out this time.
“This is our Super Bowl,” Bateman said.
He plays regularly at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, where he tries to persuade 11year-old daughter Maple to join him. In a “Tonight Show” appearance in May 2022, Bateman told of taking Maple to the course and watching her “just striping” the ball, even though she was just 10 at the time.
Bateman — whose wife hates golf, he told Jimmy Fallon in that “Tonight Show” interview — joked about tempting Maple with father/daughter golf trips. Alas, she has lost some interest in the game, though he’s not giving up.
“Any time you can find subjects to talk to your kids about, it’s a great thing,” Bateman said. “How was school? Good. How are your friends? Good. How was lunch? Good. With golf, you can talk about a bunch of stuff and you have these great little 90-second conversations in between shots. It’s perfect.”
As for why he has become addicted to the game again, he said, “Golf is extremely difficult to do well. That’s the puzzle that fascinates me, and the next day the puzzle is completely different. So it’s incredibly humbling, the most difficult thing I do . ...
“It’s good discipline for me to get out there and try to constantly slay the dragon, and not just sit back and do things that are easy.”
Bateman is exactly the kind of celebrity the Pro-Am needs, especially given its struggles attracting top PGA Tour pros. His popularity stretches beyond the typical golf audience, as evident in his social media reach (2 million followers on Twitter) and the large, engaged galleries shadowing him for the week.
On Friday, during his round at Monterey Peninsula’s Shore Course, he stopped for selfies on nearly every hole. One spectator got his attention by saying she came from Mexico to see him, and another group of four women eagerly posed for a quick selfie with him on No. 4.
Then there were the three guys from Travis Air Force Base, standing alongside the No. 4 green. They wore “Average Joes” softball jerseys, a nostalgic nod to “Dodgeball,” a 2004 sports movie in which Bateman appeared with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller and played a color commentator.
Bateman and the other amateur in his group, fellow actor Josh Duhamel, perpetually interacted with the galleries — while their two pros, Harrison Endycott and Garett Reband, played in anonymity.