Tiger Woods drinks from Michael’ s hand

September 2002

Tiger Woods literally drank for the hand of Wexford businessman Michael Hayes at Mount Juliet last week.

‘It was a cup of hot chocolate,’ said Michael, who dished up thousands of sandwiches, cups of coffee and hot chocolate, and other snacks during the tournament, where his franchise business – O’Brien’s Sandwich Bar in Wexford – had won one of the catering contracts.

‘We made up 8,000 sandwiches and 3,800 cups of coffee during the week,’ said Michael, who assembled a 20-strong team for the tournament.

‘We arrived around 5.15 a.m. every morning and worked there until 7.30 p.m. It’s amazing what you can do when the adrenalin starts flowing.’

Michael described the golfers as a really nice bunch of people, and said of Tiger: ‘ he’s very focussed. A Roy Keane type of character’.

‘It was a great experience, but I still can’t believe the sort of perfectionists they are there. Every morning, we had to show off the sandwiches to Mount Juliet’s chef. He’d taste them, and if he wasn’t satisfied, he’d change the whole menu,’ said Michael, a par 3 golfer.

Michael said Tiger Woods ate a diet of steamed chicken and steamed vegetables during his week, but proved he could demolish three 10oz steaks, with pepper sauce, at a sitting too – all on the orders of his dietician.

Darren Clarke, on the other hand, showed an inclination for the Full Irish, and was to be seen consuming sausages, rashers, and eggs ‘as if it was his last meal.’

Before Michael or any of his team even made it to Mount Juliet, they had to be vetted a private security firm hired by the PGA. ‘It was quite an experience,’ he said.

Unfortunately, Michael doesn’t have any photographs of himself or his staff with any of the big names.

‘Every morning when we arrived, we were very thoroughly searched for cameras and tape recorders,’ he said.