Happy Gilmore 2 ending explained: Is Virginia Venit really dead?

Happy Gilmore 2, a sequel to the 1996 sports comedy classic, finds Adam Sandler's titular unlikely hero picking up the golf club once again for his family. Besides Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Ben Stiller, and Dennis Dugan also reprise their respective roles. Benny Safdie and Bad Bunny have also joined the cast this time.

Disclaimer: The following article contains spoilers for Happy Gilmore 2. Reader's discretion is advised.

Happy Gilmore 2 opens three decades after Happy won the Tour Championship, earning the money to save his grandmother's house. In the sequel, money is once again the biggest motivation for Happy; he wants to give his daughter a chance at the life she deserves by sending her to the esteemed Paris Opera Ballet School.

Throughout the movie, Happy's pro golf PR director love interest-turned-wife, Virginia Venit, appears several times. In reality, some of those appearances are of Virginia's spirit, who encourages Happy to continue golfing despite his setbacks. After his iconic win in 1996, Happy won five championships and also had five children with Virginia.

However, at the beginning of the film, viewers learn that Virginia died in 2014 when Happy accidentally hit her in the head with one of his golf balls. Consumed by the guilt of having facilitated his wife's death, Happy stopped golfing and became an alcoholic. In a voiceover, Happy says:

"I'd never been a big boozer, but alcohol was the only thing that helped me to forget what I'd done to the sweetest woman I'd ever known."

Happy Gilmore 2: Happy decides to get back in the game, literally and figuratively

After Virginia's death, Happy not only spiraled into alcoholism but also bled dry financially due to a lawsuit he got embroiled in after drunkenly assaulting car repossession agents. He lost his money as well as the house he had inherited from his beloved grandmother.

While he lives with his daughter and youngest child, Vienna, in a small home close to the convenience store where he now works, his four sons, Gordie, Bobby, Wayne, and Terry, share a dingy flat.

Happy does not show any signs of wanting to improve until he learns that Vienna's dancing talents could get better if she were to attend the Paris Opera Ballet School. The fees for her four-year course are $300,000.

This compels Happy to get back on the greens, with encouragement from real life pro-golfer John Daly. Although addiction struggles and body fitness do stand in the way initially, Happy manages to recover through rigorous practice and AA meetings.

Happy Gilmore 2: Happy teams up with an unlikely ally and faces a new foe

Happy has taken up a job at a supermarket to support his family, while his sons are doing blue-collar jobs in Happy Gilmore 2. During Happy's shift at the supermarket, the CEO of Maxi Energy Drink, Frank Manatee, approaches him with the offer to become a part of the new golf league he is planning to create.

Happy turns down the offer, but returns to golf. When he begins playing for the Tour Championship, the president expresses concern about the rise of Frank Manatee's Maxi Golf. Happy proposes that they hold a competition between the traditional golfers and the Maxi golfers. Happy almost does not make it into the team of five players who would be facing off against the five from Maxi Golf League.

However, the winner, Billy Jenkins, reveals that he is actually a part of the Maxi League. This gives Happy another chance at winning. The players of the Maxi Golf League have an upper hand on the other players as they have undergone an iliolumbar surgery, which gives them the advantage of long drives. Additionally, Frank has added several obstacles to the course to make it more entertaining.

Happy reunites with his old nemesis, Shooter McGavin, at Virginia's grave in Happy Gilmore 2. After fighting for a bit, Happy and Shooter decide to take on the Maxi League together, as neither of them is happy with how Frank is treating golf. With Shooter and Slim Peterson's help, the Tour Championship players gear up to win against Maxi Golf.

Does Happy win in Happy Gilmore 2?

In the end, the fate of Maxi Golf is in Happy's hands, as his winning or losing will determine whether or not Frank's new golf company will remain functional. Frank and Happy make a deal according to which if Happy wins, Frank will shut down Maxi Golf, pay for Vienna's ballet school, give his new electric car to Happy, buy back Happy's house, and open an Italian restaurant for Happy's caddy, Oscar. If Happy loses, he will join Maxi Golf.

Despite the odds stacked against him, Happy makes the putt and wins the competition. Later, he goes to say goodbye to his kids, who are off to Paris, and promises them that he will join them after he is done with the British Open. Meanwhile, Frank has gone into hiding after wrapping up Maxi Golf and the downfall of Maxi Energy Drink when it was discovered that the beverage was causing serious oral issues.

Happy Gilmore 2 is available to stream on Netflix.