From a distance of 135 yards, the golfer saw his ball vanish into the earth. Then he saw a screaming Aaron Paul who had suddenly appeared from behind a tree after witnessing the hole-in-one, boots leaping, arms flailing, his voice slicing the air: "Oh my God! Oh my God!"
If you don't know who Paul is, neither did Guy Adams, the West Hollywood resident who'd just hit the magic shot. But Paul is well known to the 1.3 million viewers of AMC's critically acclaimed "Breaking Bad," which wraps its second season on Sunday night, and the 5 million viewers of HBO's "Big Love."
"I feel inspired," said the 29-year-old from Idaho who looked more rock star than golfer with those boots, skinny jeans and a faded Elvis T-shirt beneath a black jacket. "I feel like I'm going to do better now."
And better he did on a recent outing, getting pars on three of his final six holes on the nine-hole, par-3 course in Los Feliz to finish the day at 7-over -- he used to play here with some buddies, but they often threw the ball instead of using their clubs.
After golf, Paul discussed his acting career with a slight shake of the head. "I'm just so fortunate, first of all just to be working," he said, "but it's such a dream to be working on two great shows and playing polar-opposite characters."
On "Big Love," he plays Scott, a buttoned-up, bespectacled suitor to a polygamist's daughter trying to distance herself from that life. On "Breaking Bad," he portrays Jesse, the younger and somewhat thuggish business partner to Bryan Cranston's Walter.
Paul's character on "Bad" treads the edge of a cliff, dealing drugs on a scale so large that it nearly gets him killed. In fact, the show's creator, Vince Gilligan, did actually plan to off Jesse at the end of the first season, but decided against it because of Paul's appeal. "He just has this certain puppy-dog sort of vulnerability."
So Gilligan instead put the puppy through hell. In the second season, Jesse has been beaten up, stuffed into a trunk, dropped into a port-a-potty and shot up with drugs. A recent episode had him taking heroin with his girlfriend, who then died in her sleep. The story line reminds Paul of his younger days in L.A., when he was close to a young woman who became addicted to cocaine and crystal methamphetamine -- the drug his TV character cooks and deals.
"This was someone I really cared for, such a beautiful, angelic heart, and once she started using, I literally saw her soul disappear," he said.
