With last week’s capture of notorious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, it’s all-Whitey/all-the-time in the Hub these days. And with Dorchester native Mark Wahlberg in town to host his celebrity golf tourney at the busy Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee, the Boston Globe sat down with the actor/filmmaker Friday night for his take on the former FBI informant and alleged mass murderer.
Wahlberg, who recently directed and played the lead character in the critically acclaimed “The Fighter” set in nearby Lowell, also had a role in Martin Scorsese’s Boston-based “The Departed.” Chattin’ and chewin’ the night before his Mark Wahlberg Celebrity Golf Tournament on Cape Cod, the ex-Marky Mark suggested that Jack Nicholson, who played the Whitey-based mobster Frank Costello in the latter film, may have had cause for concern while Bulger was hiding in plain sight in California.
“I wonder how Jack Nicholson feels, especially because Santa Monica is so close to Riviera [Country Club in Los Angeles], where Jack plays golf all the time,” Wahlberg, also a deep-pocketed member of “The Riv,” told the Globe during a pre-tourney fete at Beantown’s Tasty Burger. “If [Bulger] wasn’t happy with the portrayal, he may have wanted to voice that to Jack.’’
Wahlberg, who moved his annual Hollywood-based tourney closer to home this year, hosted a slew of celebs and Boston sports stars, who helped raise funds for the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which aids inner-city kids.
The 40-year-old former bad boy, by the way, is serious about his golf. Playing for more than 10 years, the southpaw can reportedly boom 300-yard drives, purportedly sports a handicap in the teens, and has a hole-in-one to his credit. Back in 2008, Golf Digest ranked Wahlberg ninth among Hollywood’s top golfers.
(Photo: Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images Entertainment)
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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