The truth is, Christopher McDonald never wanted to play Shooter McGavin. in a 2011 interview with AV Club, the actor initially admitted that he turned down the role more than once. As McDonald said:
“I turned down that movie twice. I had seen Adam. [Sandler] I had seen him in a movie called ‘Billy Madison’ and on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and thought it was funny… But I turned it down because I was really tired. I shot two movies back-to-back in Vancouver. But they said, “They really want you to play this Shooter McGavin guy.” I’m like, ‘Ugh, that’s another bad guy. I do not want to do this.”
After turning down the role, McDonald got the connections he won a tournament. It made her think a golf movie could be a lot of fun, so she made arrangements to meet up with Adam Sandler. “And within 15 minutes I knew I had to make this movie,” McDonald said of his meeting with Sandman. “Because this guy was absolutely sick and funny and very smart, very, very smart. That’s when I decided it would be a really good idea to do it.”
It’s been McDonald’s most important role ever. More than twenty years later is still remembered as “The ‘Happy Gilmore’ Villain”. Among the hundreds of roles McDonald has played since her debut in the CBS movie “Getting Married” in 1978, it’s fair to say that no other role has impacted her life and career as much as Shooter McGavin.