Dennis Quaid Tops Golf Digest's Hollywood Golf Ranking

From Clint and Cruise to Clooney and Connery, Special 55th Anniversary Edition Ranks the Best and Worst Golfers From TV and Film

NEW YORK, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- In Hollywood nowadays, having a good golf game is almost as important as having the right agent. Golf Digest, in December's 55th Anniversary Special Edition (on newsstands November 8,) pays tribute to Tinsletown with a ranking of the top 100 golfers from television and film.

The full list of Hollywood's Top 100 can be viewed now at http://www.golfdigest.com/hollywood.

Dennis Quaid, a bona fide golf nut sporting a 1.1 USGA Handicap Index, finished first among Hollywood's Top 100. A member of Bel-Air Country Club in Beverly Hills, Quaid usually secures a home on a private golf course whenever he's on the road and relies on his charm to gain access. "They're usually pretty good about it," he told Golf Digest. "There are three things being a celebrity is good for: raising money for charity, dinner reservations and tee times."

Rounding out the Top 10 are: No. 2 Thomas Gibson, formely of ABC's "Dharma and Greg"; T3 comedian Tom Dreesen; T3 actor Matt Craven; T3 Chris O'Donnell; No. 6 Samuel L. Jackson; No. 7 Randy Quaid; No. 8 Craig T. Nelson; T9 Mark Wahlberg; T9 Hugh Grant.

It's not only Hollywood's leading men slinking to the links. Tea Leoni, a 12-handicap, is the highest-ranked woman on the list, tied for 34th with avid golfer Sylvester Stallone. Cheryl Ladd, who recently wrote a book about golf, is tied for 43rd in the ranking with Michael Chiklis, the 2002 Emmy Award- winning star of "The Shield."

Even desperate housewives are playing golf. While Teri Hatcher didn't crack the magazine's Top 100, she's a longtime fan of the game and even received a lesson from Tiger Woods this year at his charity concert in Las Vegas. "I was so nervous," said Hatcher. "All I could think of was, I don't deserve a lesson with Tiger Woods. But he instantly put me at ease and gave me some good pointers . . . We have a lot of good golfers on our crew, and when I did 'Lois & Clark, we used to have a golf tournament. So that's my goal, to put on a Desperate Housewives golf tournament."

Tom Cruise, who hardly ever plays golf, finished dead last-No.100-in Golf Digest's ranking. However, he is widely regarded among the staff of Bel-Air Country Club for regularly "dolling out $100 bills to the caddies."

In celebration of its 55th anniversary, Golf Digest will be hosting the first-ever Golf Digest Celebrity Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles on November 7. Several members of the Hollywood Top 100 will be participating, including Ray Romano, Dennis Hopper and Cheryl Ladd.

The Golf Digest Celebrity Invitational will feature 25 celebrities and 100 amateur participants and will benefit the Prostrate Cancer Foundation.

THE TOP 30 FROM GOLF DIGEST'S HOLLYWOOD GOLF RANKING
DECEMBER ISSUE
(Visit www.golfdigest.com/hollywood for the full List)

RANK ACTOR HANDICAP

1. Dennis Quaid 1.1
2. Thomas Gibson 4.3
T3. Matt Craven 4.5
T3. Tom Dreesen 4.5
T3. Chris O'Donnell 4.5
6. Samuel L. Jackson 4.9
7. Randy Quaid 5.9
8. Craig T. Nelson 6.9
T9. Mark Wahlberg 7.0
T9. Hugh Grant 7.0
11. Jack Wagner* 1.0
12. Kevin Sorbo 7.2
13. Kevin Dillon 7.3
14. Luke Wilson 7.4
15. Bill Murray 7.5
16. William Devane 7.6
T17. Bruce McGill 7.8
T17. Aidan Quinn 7.8
T19. Peter Gallagher 8.0
T19. Matthew McConaughey 8.0
21. Don Johnson 8.1
22. Kyle MacLachlan 9.0
23. Andy Garcia 9.1
24. Kurt Russell 9.2
25. Greg Kinnear 9.8
T26. Joel Gretsch 10.0
T26. Richard Karn 10.0
T26. Richard Kind 10.0
T26. Scott Wolf 10.0
30. Robert Wagner 10.1

*While officially a 1.0 handicap, the soap star has posted only one score in two years and says he's playing closer to a 10-handicap.