ADDICTION, TRAGEDY AND BECOMING A TV STAR
David Feherty on a life less ordinary
DAVID FEHERTY has come a long way from being known as ‘Stupid’ at school in Northern Ireland: turning pro as a five-handicapper, playing in the Ryder Cup, descending into addiction, establishing himself as a huge star on US TV and now having an eponymous show on Sky Sports.
Yet while he might say, and yes, it might appear, that “this is the best I’ve ever felt in my life”, there is a sadness in the background that can never be mended.
Eighteen months ago, his son, Shey, died on his 29th birthday from a drug overdose. As any grieving parent would, Feherty continually analyses his own role in the tragedy and not just because of his own past issues with cocaine and alcohol – at one stage he was drinking two bottles of whiskey a day. Shey was asking his father for money.
“He was assuring me it wasn’t for drugs, but deep down I would have known,” Feherty says.
“But he was such a sweet lad and I so wanted to believe that he was coming out the other side. The thing is, addicts make the best liars. I should know.”
David Feherty stopped drinking in 2008 after an intervention from Tom Watson.
“I said to David, ‘I see you, I’ve been where you are, let me help’,” Watson told ‘Golf World’.
Depression
And while Feherty was put on multiple pills a day to help with depression and bipolar disorder, he became a poster boy for the possibilities of rehabilitation. However, Shey’s tragedy secretly highlighted the dangers of regression.
“I’d been sober for 10 years and I had a relapse spell after that,” Feherty reveals. “And it took me quite a while to sort of recover. I mean, you never recover from something like that. Losing a child, it doesn’t get better, it just gets older.
“It’s fair enough to say that, yeah, it would’ve been easy just to go hit the bottle and think, ‘f*** it’.
“But I do believe every time you get through something, you’re stronger. And I had so much help from so many people.” That is a theme of Feherty’s life – the help.
“Yeah, I’ve been very lucky. I’ve been surrounded by great friends, from (European Tour pros) Sam Torrance and John O’Leary at the beginning right up to Tom (Watson) and (Lee) Trevino and even some of the young guys like Rory (McIlroy) now. I’ve always been looked after and people have always cared about me.
“Why? Well, I think a lot of people look at me and think, ‘Jesus, I better f******* help that guy’. I’m told that people warm to those who make them laugh and it’s true, they do.
“And for me that goes all the way back to my childhood. I was a classic ADD (attention disorder deficit) child, although when I went to school it wasn’t known like that and they just called me ‘Stupid’.
“I just couldn’t pass exams, I was hopeless. So I ended up making fun of myself so that the other children couldn’t. That’s sort of carried on throughout my whole life.”
This razor-sharp self-deprecation is not only heard in his role as the muchlauded NBC analyst, or in ‘Feherty’ that started on Sky Sports Golf last night with a characteristically irreverent interview with Ian Poulter, but also the stand-up routine he tours across America.
“I do about 25 a year and I’d say it is the most nervous thing I’ve ever done other than playing in that bloody Ryder Cup (in 1991),” he said.
“I get in a theatre with 1,500 people, and there’s nothing but me and a spotlight and a microphone and I’m supposed to make them laugh for two hours. I’m lucky I don’t s*** myself on a nightly basis.
“I have no script writers, it’s all me. I tell golf stories that most aren’t familiar with. There’s stuff about me, waking up two days after winning the Scottish Open, not knowing where I was or, more importantly, where the trophy was.
“I’ve also been lucky enough to have played with greats like Trevino, (Jack) Nicklaus, (Arnold) Palmer, (Seve) Ballesteros and (Nick) Faldo.
“I’ve got stories about them, stories they’ve told me, and there’s a lot of Irish jokes in there and stories about my family. Essentially, my life story. I’ve had some ups and downs, struggles with alcoholism and mental illness. It’s been a trip.”
There are tales of the modern pros, too and McIlroy is plainly the one for Feherty.
“I was the assistant pro at Holywood Golf Club where he grew up and I always say I was there 19 years before the little b****** was born. I knew his parents and saw snapshots of him as he matured on the course.
“He’s always just been the same little boy. I’m so proud of him, I can’t even begin to tell you. Every time he comes on the screen, I find it difficult not to be biased. It’s one of the things I have to be careful of.”
Feherty is not one to watch his tongue. It is what has made him such a success on Stateside. The quality of his guests highlight his draw. As well as all the top golfers, he has beckoned basketball stars such as Steph Curry to the chair and even President Clinton and President Trump.
He is a naturalised US citizen with second wife Anita, his son Rory from his first marriage, Anita’s two sons, Fred and Karl, and their 20-year-old daughter Erin. As he says: “It is a wonderful life, a blessed life.
“But I’m 60 and, honestly, when the f*** did that happen? So much has been a blur for obvious reasons, but I love what I do. I don’t want to sound naff and say, ‘TV was my real calling’ but although I could play golf right enough – I won five times – and was happy to be a decent player, to have a decent record. I didn’t want the responsibility that came with greatness. I only wanted that responsibility when I got into television.
“I’m not saying I’m great or anything but my show has gone into 30 to 40 countries and I’m chuffed that it’s in Britain and Ireland now. It means my mum, who still lives in Bangor, can finally watch it from her own sofa.
“I’ll have to warn her about all the bleeping. Not that she’ll be surprised. There has been a lot of that in my life. Just one long bleep, I suppose.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)