Golf's latest Hollywood foray, THE SQUEEZE centers around a gifted young golfer who crosses paths with an obsessive gambler willing to resort to whatever means necessary to win a bet. Directed by former ABC Sports golf producer/director Terry Jastrow, the film will make its television premiere on Golf Channel, tonight, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. ET (encore at 10 p.m.).
The movie is based on a true story and was written and directed by Jastrow, who produced or directed coverage of 62 major championships (U.S. Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship), and was a seven-time Emmy winner over the course of his 22-year career. For the movie, Jastrow made it a prerequisite to cast a lead character with a legitimate golf acumen in order to ensure an authentic storyline that golf-enthused viewers would take seriously. The cast features Christopher McDonald - known among golf circles for his memorable role playing Shooter McGavin in "Happy Gilmore" - who plays the cunning gambler, starring alongside Jeremy Sumpter - a scratch golfer - who plays the young golf prodigy. Check out a first look at THE SQUEEZE below: The film centers around Augie Baccas (Sumpter), a blossoming golf phenom from a rural town who gains the attention of the cynical gambler, Riverboat (McDonald), after winning a citywide championship by a stunning 15 shots and breaking the course record in the process. When Riverboat offers a cut of the winnings from the cross-country high stakes matches he's proposing to line up, Augie - with his family's financial and emotional strains squarely on his mind - reluctantly obliges, ignoring the cautionary advice from his longtime girlfriend Natalie (Jillian Murray). When the stakes get higher and higher, the unlikely tandem set off for Las Vegas for a $1 million match against a man with mob connections, leaving Augie with the ultimate conundrum, caught in "the squeeze" of how to escape from the hole he's dug himself into.Videos