‘I didn’t want any fuss,’ Smyth says as he confirms retirement

WHEN Des Smyth said last year that he could “see the finishing post”, he knew the time had come to hang up his spikes.

Now that Covid-19 has ravaged professional golf in Europe, he thanks his lucky stars that he quietly pulled down the curtain on a distinguished, 46-year European Tour career at the Staysure Tour’s Farmfoods European Senior Masters on October 6, 2019.

“I won’t be going back on tour,” 67-year-old Smyth (pictured) said from his Drogheda home yesterday, expressing sadness for the young Irish professionals who have nowhere to play right now.

“The mojo has gone and looking at what’s happening now, I think, how lucky was I to make that decision? I am finished, and I am just going to do my little jobs with Dubai Duty Free and Team Ireland.

“Listen, I am an old fogey now. It’s no big deal. I just wanted to avoid the fanfare, which I did successfully.”

Widely regarded as one of world golf’s most amiable and gentlemanly practitioners, Smyth’s friendly demeanour belied a fierce competitive spirit in a game he took up with his brothers and lifelong friends at Laytown and

British Open at Royal Aberdeen.

“I feel for the young pros who are out there now with nowhere to make a buck,” added Smyth, who also won twice on the European Seniors Tour and claimed six Irish Professional titles spanning four decades.

“You’d hate to be starting out in the game now with the coronavirus pandemic hanging over your head. “Hopefully they can get something done at the back end of the year. Luckily, I retired when I did. I made my mind up last year that 46 years was enough. I am quite happy to leave it that way. I didn’t want a fuss.” Meanwhile, Tour stars Leona Maguire and Gavin Moynihan and Curtis Cup star Olivia Mehaffey will headline a strong field for the inaugural Irish Scratch Series event at Seapoint Golf Links on June 29.

Organised by GK Events to give male and female amateurs and professionals some competitive practice each Monday during the Covid-19 pandemic, Team Ireland’s Maguire and Moynihan were among the first to enter as they prepare to return to action on the LPGA and European Tours next month.

Bettystown Golf Club more than 60 years ago. He loved his craft, winning the Mullingar Scratch Cup in 1972 and West of Ireland in 1973 before turning professional in 1974, Monday qualifying for events on the fledgling European Tour before travelling the continent by car during for what was then a sixmonth campaign in the UK and continental Europe. He would go on to win eight times on the European Tour between 1979 and 2001, a haul surpassed only by Christy O’Connor Snr and Major winners Pádraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell. During that spell he played in the Ryder Cup in 1979 and 1981, going on to break Neil Coles’ record as the oldest man to win a European Tour event at the age of 48 years and 34 days at the Madeira Islands Open in 2001, a record which lasted for 11 years before it was broken by Miguel Angel Jimenez in Hong Kong. As a senior golfer, he would conquer the Champions Tour in the US, winning two individual titles in 2005 and only losing to Tom Watson at the third hole of a play-off for the Senior