If you’ve watched Happy Gilmore once, you’ve watched it fifty times. It is the ultimate comfort movie. You know the scenes by heart: the Subway sandwich, the Bob Barker fight, and of course, that poor, scrawny kid with the bleached-blonde hair getting shoved to the turf.
"Mr. Gilmore, I’m your caddy!"
It’s one of the most quoted lines in a movie full of them. But have you ever stopped to wonder who played Happy Gilmore’s caddy? He basically vanished after the early 2000s. You don’t see him in Netflix rom-coms or guest-starring on Law & Order.
Honestly, the real story is way cooler than a standard "where are they now" Hollywood puff piece.
The Mystery Man: Jared Van Snellenberg
The actor’s name is Jared Van Snellenberg. Back in 1996, he was just a 14-year-old kid from Vancouver with a head full of curls and a surprisingly high tolerance for being bullied by Adam Sandler on camera.
He wasn't some seasoned pro. In fact, that iconic blonde hair wasn't even a costume choice. Jared had bleached it himself a few months before the audition, much to his mom’s annoyance. She actually told him he’d never book a job looking like that.
Life is funny. He walked into the audition, saw a room full of other kids who had also bleached their hair to try and look "punk," and he still got the part.
Sandler actually spent part of the audition "throwing him around the room" just to see if the kid could handle the physical comedy. Jared leaned into it. He spent four days on set, got paid, and became a permanent part of 90s comedy history.
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From the Green to the Lab
You’d think a breakout role in a massive hit would lead to a lifelong career. Jared did a few more things—he was in Rat Race and Saving Silverman—but he wasn't really feeling the Hollywood grind.
While most child actors are trying to land their next pilot, Jared was getting deep into psychology at Simon Fraser University. He eventually realized that he liked studying the human brain more than he liked pretending to be other people.
By the mid-2000s, he effectively retired from acting. He moved to New York, hit the books at Columbia University, and didn't just get a degree—he got a PhD.
Today, he isn't "the caddy." He’s Dr. Jared Van Snellenberg, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.
Think about that for a second. The kid who carried Happy Gilmore's bag is now a literal neuroscientist. He spends his days using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study the neural underpinnings of schizophrenia.
The Will Zalatoris Connection
For a long time, people just assumed the caddy had disappeared. Then, a professional golfer named Will Zalatoris showed up on the PGA Tour.
The resemblance was terrifying.
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Social media went absolutely nuclear. People were convinced that Zalatoris was actually the kid from the movie grown up. Even Adam Sandler got in on the joke, tweeting out side-by-side photos of Jared and Will to wish the golfer luck at the Masters.
Zalatoris, being a good sport, even had "Mr. Gilmore, I'm your caddy" engraved on his wedges.
But the real kicker happened in 2025. When Sandler finally got around to making Happy Gilmore 2, he decided to turn the meme into reality.
What Happened in Happy Gilmore 2?
Everyone wanted to know: would the original caddy return?
In a way, yes. But also no.
In the sequel, Will Zalatoris actually plays the adult version of the caddy. It’s a meta-joke that works perfectly because the two men look so much alike. But don't worry, the production did reach out to the real Dr. Van Snellenberg.
Jared has been pretty open about the fact that he’s a scientist now, not an actor. He reportedly declined a major role in the sequel because, well, he has a lab to run and students to teach.
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However, the movie still pays homage to the character’s roots. While Zalatoris takes the "adult caddy" mantle, Happy actually finds a new caddy in the sequel—a waiter played by the global superstar Bad Bunny. It's a chaotic transition, but it fits the vibe of the Gilmore universe perfectly.
Why the Caddy Still Matters
Why are we still talking about a kid with five minutes of screen time from thirty years ago?
Maybe it’s because Happy Gilmore represents a specific kind of underdog story. We like knowing that the scrawny kid who got bullied by a hot-tempered hockey-player-turned-golfer turned out to be a genius in real life.
It’s a reminder that you don’t have to stay in the box people put you in when you're fourteen. Jared Van Snellenberg could have spent decades chasing bit parts in sitcoms. Instead, he’s out here trying to solve the mysteries of the human mind.
What You Can Take Away From This
- Don't Fear the Pivot: Just because you're good at something (like acting or caddying) doesn't mean you have to do it forever.
- Embrace the Meme: Both Jared and Will Zalatoris handled the comparison with grace and humor, which only made fans love them more.
- Check Out the Sequel: Happy Gilmore 2 is officially on Netflix as of late 2025. It’s a cameo-heavy fever dream that actually respects the legacy of the original characters.
If you’re feeling nostalgic, go back and watch the original Waterbury Open scenes. Knowing that the kid being tackled is now a world-class psychiatry professor makes the "shove" scene even funnier.
Next Steps:
If you want to see the new era of Gilmore's golf game, head over to Netflix to watch Happy Gilmore 2. Keep a close eye on the scene where Happy meets Will Zalatoris—the dialogue is a direct nod to Jared’s original performance. You can also look up Dr. Van Snellenberg’s research at Stony Brook if you want to see what "the caddy" is actually up to in the world of neuroscience.