Post by KCkelley on Nov 26, 2003 14:43:33 GMT -5
Kumar.... I don't know how to get the pix on here w/o having to host them on Tripod or something like that. PM me with your e-mail and I could e-mail them to you if you wanted! Thanks!
COOL HAND LUKE
Luke gets the girl and makes the putt
-----------------
Luke Wilson sprawls in a golf cart near the 1st tee at Northwest Club in Dallas. A 10-year-old girl asks for his autograph. As Wilson scribbles, her mother asks, "Who is Luke Wilson?" The girl launches into paroxysms of my-mom-is-such-a-geek embarrassment.
Maybe a few mothers don't know Wilson, but their daughters do: He's a heartthrob who has starred opposite some of Hollywood's top leading ladies, including Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, and Kate Hudson. (He also had some high-profile girlfriends, such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Drew Barrymore.)
As if getting paid to kiss Hudson weren't enough, he's also a darn good golfer. Wearing rust-colored slacks, a dark green shirt and a visor, and sporting a thin Clark Gable mustache, Wilson, 32, looks every bit the movie star as he steps up to the tee. With his strong jaw and laconic manner, there's a cowboy quality to him, appropriate given that he grew up here in Texas.
Joining the skins game at Northwood, the tree-lined layout that hosted the 1952 U.S. Open, are Wilson's father, Bob, an advertising executive (mom, Laura, is a photographer), and his oldest brother, Andrew, an actor and writed. (Older brother Owen, who starred with Luke in The Royal Tenenbaums, doesn't play, "although he likes to gamble," Luke notes, so there's hope.)
The wind is picking up, which is just fine with Wilson, a 9 handicap. "I played 36 in the wind the other day, and you really feel like you've accomplished something," he says. "It makes you bear down."
It's a thin line between bearing down and being out of it. On the fairway of the long par-4 4th, Wilson smokes a 3-wood. One problem: It's his partner's ball. "The match doesn't begin until Luke hits the wrong ball," Andrew cracks. "Welcome to the family!"
Wilson has a surprisingly aggressive swing for such a mellow guy, although he sometimes hangs back and loses shots to the right. Fans might have predicted his soft touch around the green. "It's a point of pride that I haven't had a lesson," says Wilson, whose best round was a 74 at Northwood. "My goal when I come out is to break 80. I have to remind myself to keep at it, not to give up, that I can get back in it with a birdie."
Like many actors, Wilson enjoys the diversion the game provides on location. He sneaked in a few rounds with Bill Murray at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scaborough, New York, while they were filming The Royal Tenenbaums. "That was a lot of fun," Wilson says. "He's a good basketball player, too. He's got a great shot."
At home in Los Angeles, Wilson recently joined Bel-Air Country Club, where he plays with other single-digits, tennis star Pete Sampras, actor James Garner and singer Mac Davis. Wilson smartly got under the tennis great's skin during one of their first matches. "I said 'If you beat me, all you can say is you beat some character actor. But if I win, I can say I beat Pete Sampras,'" Wilson says. "He just gave me a wry laugh. He's pretty competitive."
He began playing seriously eight years ago at a par-3 course near Beverly Hills, CA. "It was one of those things where I realized how much I missed sports," he says. "There was a void there I didn't even really realize."
Wilson once held the record in the 800 meters at the elite all-boys St. Mark's School in Dallas. Sports fell to the wayside, though, after he enrolled in a playwriting class at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He left in 1996 after starring with Owen and Andrew in Wes Anderson's slacker-noir classic, Bottle Rocket. "What I love about acting is going from one project to the other," Luke says. "It's always a gamble. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and that's what makes it exciting."
One perk of hot-actor status is the golf invitations. Wilson played with Luke Donald in the pro-am at the Mercedes Championships in January. "They all seem to have the same demeanor," he says of Tour pros. "They're unflappable. Emotionally, I'm all over the map when I'm on the course."
You wouldn't know it on the par-5 14th, where Wilson surveys a five-footer for birdie and six skins. "I'm gonna drain this," he says. "And you can put that in bold print." Of course, he drains it.
He picks up two more skinds before dumping his approach on 18 into a greenside bunker. Facing a difficult shot over a high lip, her splashes it perfectly, leaving a four-footer for par. "Be a great ending to the story if I make this," Wilson says smiling.
Naturally, he sinks it. Who's Luke Wilson? One cool customer, that's who.
COOL HAND LUKE
Luke gets the girl and makes the putt
-----------------
Luke Wilson sprawls in a golf cart near the 1st tee at Northwest Club in Dallas. A 10-year-old girl asks for his autograph. As Wilson scribbles, her mother asks, "Who is Luke Wilson?" The girl launches into paroxysms of my-mom-is-such-a-geek embarrassment.
Maybe a few mothers don't know Wilson, but their daughters do: He's a heartthrob who has starred opposite some of Hollywood's top leading ladies, including Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, and Kate Hudson. (He also had some high-profile girlfriends, such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Drew Barrymore.)
As if getting paid to kiss Hudson weren't enough, he's also a darn good golfer. Wearing rust-colored slacks, a dark green shirt and a visor, and sporting a thin Clark Gable mustache, Wilson, 32, looks every bit the movie star as he steps up to the tee. With his strong jaw and laconic manner, there's a cowboy quality to him, appropriate given that he grew up here in Texas.
Joining the skins game at Northwood, the tree-lined layout that hosted the 1952 U.S. Open, are Wilson's father, Bob, an advertising executive (mom, Laura, is a photographer), and his oldest brother, Andrew, an actor and writed. (Older brother Owen, who starred with Luke in The Royal Tenenbaums, doesn't play, "although he likes to gamble," Luke notes, so there's hope.)
The wind is picking up, which is just fine with Wilson, a 9 handicap. "I played 36 in the wind the other day, and you really feel like you've accomplished something," he says. "It makes you bear down."
It's a thin line between bearing down and being out of it. On the fairway of the long par-4 4th, Wilson smokes a 3-wood. One problem: It's his partner's ball. "The match doesn't begin until Luke hits the wrong ball," Andrew cracks. "Welcome to the family!"
Wilson has a surprisingly aggressive swing for such a mellow guy, although he sometimes hangs back and loses shots to the right. Fans might have predicted his soft touch around the green. "It's a point of pride that I haven't had a lesson," says Wilson, whose best round was a 74 at Northwood. "My goal when I come out is to break 80. I have to remind myself to keep at it, not to give up, that I can get back in it with a birdie."
Like many actors, Wilson enjoys the diversion the game provides on location. He sneaked in a few rounds with Bill Murray at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scaborough, New York, while they were filming The Royal Tenenbaums. "That was a lot of fun," Wilson says. "He's a good basketball player, too. He's got a great shot."
At home in Los Angeles, Wilson recently joined Bel-Air Country Club, where he plays with other single-digits, tennis star Pete Sampras, actor James Garner and singer Mac Davis. Wilson smartly got under the tennis great's skin during one of their first matches. "I said 'If you beat me, all you can say is you beat some character actor. But if I win, I can say I beat Pete Sampras,'" Wilson says. "He just gave me a wry laugh. He's pretty competitive."
He began playing seriously eight years ago at a par-3 course near Beverly Hills, CA. "It was one of those things where I realized how much I missed sports," he says. "There was a void there I didn't even really realize."
Wilson once held the record in the 800 meters at the elite all-boys St. Mark's School in Dallas. Sports fell to the wayside, though, after he enrolled in a playwriting class at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He left in 1996 after starring with Owen and Andrew in Wes Anderson's slacker-noir classic, Bottle Rocket. "What I love about acting is going from one project to the other," Luke says. "It's always a gamble. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and that's what makes it exciting."
One perk of hot-actor status is the golf invitations. Wilson played with Luke Donald in the pro-am at the Mercedes Championships in January. "They all seem to have the same demeanor," he says of Tour pros. "They're unflappable. Emotionally, I'm all over the map when I'm on the course."
You wouldn't know it on the par-5 14th, where Wilson surveys a five-footer for birdie and six skins. "I'm gonna drain this," he says. "And you can put that in bold print." Of course, he drains it.
He picks up two more skinds before dumping his approach on 18 into a greenside bunker. Facing a difficult shot over a high lip, her splashes it perfectly, leaving a four-footer for par. "Be a great ending to the story if I make this," Wilson says smiling.
Naturally, he sinks it. Who's Luke Wilson? One cool customer, that's who.