A round of golf with pals is always a happy time
A QUICK 18 Billy Dixon Handicap: 16 Club: Sutton Golf Club
HE played in a golden age for League of Ireland football, winning titles with Drumcondra and Shamrock Rovers. But if there’s something bar those footballing memories that bring a smile to the face of former midfield maestro Billy Dixon, it’s the sight of a well-struck putt dropping into the cup.
1. How’s your golf? My golf was poor this year, but I won the Captain’s Prize after 32 years. The rough was up, and the greens were very fast, and I had 37 points, which generally wouldn’t be a great score but it was good enough on the day. I actually shanked an eight iron onto the beach on my final hole and made a ten footer for a six to edge out a group of guys on my back nine score. You just never know in this game.
2. How did you get started in the game? I didn’t take it up until I was in my forties. I’d played here and there in societies but I joined Sutton in 1986 and they have been a wonderful club. The camaraderie among the members is terrific. And my wife Catherine also plays. In fact, she’s won the Captain’s Prize and the President’s Prize!
3. Choose your weapon. Driver or putter? The driver. Putting can be there one day and gone the next. Sometimes, you get on a run, and you can hole them with your eyes closed, but I genuinely believe it’s a game within a game. If Rory McIlroy could putt consistently well, he’d probably have won another three or four majors in the last few years.
4. Links or parkland? Definitely links. Sutton is a lovely place to play, and the views are great. It might be short, but it’s not easy. There is out of bounds everywhere – the first, the third, the fifth (if you pull it far enough), the seventh, the eighth and then the ninth. If you get a little cut on the ball when the wind is howling off the left there, you’ll end up on the beach. Links golf is wonderful.
5. When were you happiest on the golf course? I’ve had three holes-in-one over the years, two in competition. One in Beaverstown and the other on the fifth in Sutton. It was one of those days when the wind was howling, and I somehow managed to hole a five-wood. Golf with pals is always a happy time.
6. Did you have heroes? Players you always admired? Well, it was a pleasure to play with Paddy Coad when he was player-manager at Waterford, and I played for them for two years at the start of my career. He was still a terrific player, but I always loved Jimmy Greaves of Spurs and West Ham. He was fantastic.
7 You went on to play for Drumcondra and then for Shamrock Rovers. What was the highlight of your career? I played 12 European matches and scored six goals. But I suppose one of the most memorable was playing against Bayern Munich in the 1966-67 European Cup Winner’s Cup. I scored in the first leg when we drew 1-1 at Dalymount. But when we went to Germany, we were 2-0 down at halftime before Bobby Gilbert, and Liam Tuohy made it 2-2, and we were about to go through to the quarter-finals on away goals. They had Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier and Gerd Müller, who scored the winner for them with about four minutes to go. That was a terrible disappointment.
8 What a memory! Oh yes, and I still think about it to this day. It was desperation stakes for Bayern, and they kept pumping balls into our area until it finally broke for Muller near the end and he tucked it away.
9. The sixties was a golden era for League of Ireland football in many ways. Who stood out? Well, I’d have to mention Frank O’Neill and Johnny Fullam. They were tremendous players. Talk to anyone who watched League of Ireland football in the sixties, and they all remember Frank, who played with Arsenal and came back to Ireland.
He played outside right, and he’d throw a little shape, and he was gone. He’d whip the ball across to two excellent headers of the ball we had in Jackie Mooney and Bobby Gilbert. And Johnny was a terrific midfield player who played for Preston.
10. What about Liam Tuohy? He was something else. He was special. Before the return leg against Bayern in Munich we were in the dressing room, and the German press came in looking for the team sheet. So Liam went through the names for them and eventually came to himself.
“Tuohy,” he said.
“Say that again,” one of the Germans said, apparently not getting the name. “Tuohy,” Liam said, but the German still looked confused. So Liam turned to us and said, “Everyone say One-ey.” And everyone in the dressing room piped up, “One-ey.”
“Now say Two-ey!” Liam said. He was terribly witty.
11. Name your dream fourball. Pádraig Harrington is a terrific ambassador for the game, so I’d like to play with him. And I’ve always had a grá for Rory McIlroy, I must say. And Tiger Woods, who is making a fantastic comeback.
12. I believe you were best man at Frank O’Neill’s wedding. But you had a memorable game the day before your own wedding, didn’t you? Yes, I scored the winner in the 1967 FAI Cup final against St Pat’s at Dalymount. I think it was the first televised Cup Final and it probably affected the crowd because there were only about 12,000 there. And then I got married the following morning. It worked out well. She’s still with me anyway!
13. If I gave you a mulligan in your football career, what would it be? I always wonder what might have happened had we held out for that last five minutes against Bayern. If we had, I think people would still be talking about it given what they went on to do with roughly the same players.
14. If you had just one more game of golf to play, where would it be? Well, they’ve always been terrific to me at Sutton, so that would always be a great day. But if I could pick anywhere bar my own club, I’d have to say the Old Course at St Andrews.
15. If you could change one thing about your golf, what would it be? I’d like to be a better putter. I love driving the ball well, but I’m an iffy putter – decent one minute and very poor the next. That would be it.
16. What’s your most treasured possession from your footballing days? The FAI Cup winner’s medal from 1967. That’s a great memory.
17. Who’s your favourite golfer? Pádraig Harrington. At the start of every season, he’s the one player I always hope can get a win.
18. What’s your idea of perfect happiness. My family. We are very close. Catherine and I have four children – Gareth, Stephen, Greg and Eva – and 13 grandchildren. Perfect happiness is when we are all together.