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Come Fan with UsFriday, June 19, 2026

‘Happy Gilmore’ happens in real life as former hockey player fights at golf course

“Good start there, buddy.”

James Dator
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.

A former NHL player went viral this week after video emerged of him brawling with a golfer on a course in Alberta, Canada. The video is so wild it might as well be a covert marketing scheme for Happy Gilmore 2.

The player, now identified as former NHLer Nick Tarnasky, had enough of a golfer who was jawing at him after slow playing ahead of his group. The golfer obviously didn’t know he was picking a fighter with a former five-year NHL veteran, and with that came one of the most embarassing beat downs we’ve seen in a while.

After charging Tarnasky the man was rag dolled into the river, which was met with the cameraman saying “good start there buddy” and it went down hill from there. Like something out of WWE Tarnasky started yelling “bang” as he punched the man, believing that the stranger was still coming for him.

Then after another throw down the hill the man conceded and backed off. It’s been reported that the group ahead of Tarnasky took as much as 20 minutes on the hole before things popped off. Don’t get me wrong: Violence is never the answer, but the stranger kind of asked for it here.

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