Damon: Black and Blue on the Green

By Caitlin O'toole

07/08/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Matt Damon may have won an Oscar, but he'll be the first to tell you that he's no master on the green, the setting for his new film, "The Legend of Bagger Vance," which co-stars Will Smith, 32, and Charlize Theron, 25. At the celebrity-packed New York premiere of the film Sunday night, Damon, 30, who plays a disillusioned war veteran who finds the meaning of life through his golf caddy (Smith), said that he got very well-acquainted with the darker side of the game. "I separated my ribs, but that was my fault," he laughed. "I had a chiropractor with me for the rest of the shoot to keep my ribs in place!" The rest of the shoot went a little more smoothly, according to Charlize Theron, who says she and Damon had some serious on-screen chemistry between them. "Go see the movie and decide for yourself," she said. "We had a great time together making the film."