Bill Murray brings mischief and mirth to Deere

SILVIS, Ill. - Bill Murray autographed a woman's head Wednesday.

With anyone else, it might be grounds to call a cop, a psychiatrist, or an exorcist. With movie star Murray, it was just funny business as usual. A throng of willing foils for his mischief happily followed him at the John Deere Classic's pro-amateur golf event at TPC Deere Run.

Wearing a No. 14 Ernie Banks Chicago Cubs jersey she said cost her over $200, Carol Near of East Moline got the attention of lifelong Cubs fan Murray as he walked from the fairway to the green on the eighth hole. As much as Murray's autograph was in demand by so many fans this day, she didn't want him to sign the pristine jersey. Murray fully understood.

'He was a great man,” Murray told Near with genuine reverence.

'Can you sign my hat?” Near asked, pointing to her Cubs visor.

'Sign your head?” Murray replied, pretending to misunderstand her. He then parted her red hair and autographed her scalp with a magic marker.

'Now I can't wash my hair!” Near shouted at him. She sounded quite serious about that. And delighted.

That was how it went for almost six hours here. Murray schmoozed with the fans between almost all of the shots he hit. He engaged them, teased them, accepted their countless requests for photos and autographs. He insisted some identify themselves.

'I'm from Illinois, we introduce ourselves,” Murray said, feigning gruffness with shy 11-year-old Elijah Turner, who sought a Murray autograph and was wearing a cap bearing the word 'Ghostbusters,” one of Murray's many hit movies.

'Where are you from?” Murray asked the boy.

'Riverdale, Iowa,” Turner said.

'Did I call that or not?” Murray replied. He's pro-Illinois, not Iowa. He's pro-Cubs, not Cardinals.

'It was a glorious day,” he said of the Cubs' day-night doubleheader sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday in Chicago. The Cardinals, he said, are 'Satan's messengers on Earth.”

Murray didn't respond much to fans' 'Caddyshack” references, but he did sign someone's elaborate fantasy football league trophy, which featured the likeness of the Dalai Lama, and a long quotation from Carl Spackler in the film. For you underprivileged few who haven't seen that 1980 golf-based comedy, Spackler was Murray's character, a deranged groundskeeper.

As you may have gathered by now, this wasn't a typical, proper PGA Tour pro-am. But there was indeed golf. Murray makes a living acting. He loves golf.

He came here partly because he has relatives in the Quad Cities, partly to help the Boys & Girls Club of the Mississippi Valley raise $400,000 at a golf event Tuesday in East Moline, and partly because he could golf with Tour pro D.A. Points at an event he said he had long intended to attend.

'I liked the course,” Murray said. 'It suited me. I think I could tear it up some day.”

The 64-year-old Murray was Points' partner at four Pebble Beach National Pro-Ams, and they teamed to win the event in 2011. Points, a 2-time Tour winner, is from Pekin, Ill.

'He can really play,” Points said. 'If his left knee was healthy, he'd probably be an 8 or a 9 (handicap).

'When he hits the ball solid, it's flush and it sounds as good as me hitting it or Tiger Woods hitting it.”

Murray walked with obvious stiffness in his left leg. But that didn't stop him from hitting several fine shots mixed with the occasional clunkers you'd expect from an amateur who doesn't play as much as he'd like.

On the par-4 fourth hole, Murray piped his tee shot well down the fairway. As a joke, he hollered 'Fore!” before he even touched his second shot. But he then left his approach within three feet of the cup, and made his birdie putt.

He froze for several seconds after his great shot from the fairway. One of his three amateur playing partners came up to him to shake hands and Murray did so. Then he immediately went back to impersonating a statue.

'I didn't want anyone to forget that shot,” he said later.

JDC tournament chairman Clair Peterson welcomed the big attendance bump the Pro-Am got from Murray's presence, saying 'Fantastic. Bill was as accommodating as anyone I've ever seen in that position.”

But at a post-round session with reporters, Murray was asked why he chose to come here. His stone-faced, tongue-in-cheek reply:

'The cash.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com