‘No better year than 2020 to hang up my clubs’
MUCH like his swing, the timing of Des Smyth’s decision during the summer to retire as a professional golfer was near perfect.
However, he will still be involved in the game, helping budding professionals to make the transition into the paid ranks, and in that regard he feels that for its size and population Ireland continues to punch above its weight.
The Bettystown native is one of the country’s great sporting ambassadors, with an ever polite and amiable manner, quite apart from being its longest Tour-playing professional.
In a career spanning nearly half a century, during which he achieved 26 professional wins, he twice played in the Ryder Cup in 1979 and 1981, and also was a vice-captain to victorious captains Ian Woosnam (2006 at the K Club) and fellow countryman Paul McGinley (2014 at Gleneagles in Scotland).
Furthermore, Des was the only player to win in four different decades on the European Tour and held the record for the oldest winner when in 2001 he won the Madeira Island Open at the age of 48 years and 34 days. That record was eventually surpassed in 2012 when Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez triumphed in the UBS Hong Kong Open just short of his 49th birthday.
Des’s career stretched from 1974, when he was 21, to the end of 2019, moving to America after ending his time on the European Tour to spend six years on the Champions Tour (over 50s) where he chalked up two wins. He then returned to play on the European Seniors Tour for the last eight years, notching up five further victories.
The nearest he came to annexing a major was when he was agonisingly beaten by the legendary Tom Watson on the third tie hole for the British Seniors title in 2005 at Royal Aberdeen. In the Open his best finish was at Troon in 1982 where he was tied fourth behind Nick Price from Zimbabwe after strongly challenging well into the back nine in the final round.
Australian Rodger Davis pipped him at the third tie hole for the PGA Championship at Wentworth in 1986, which was another disappointment.
After such a long period competing at the highest level, it was perhaps no surprise when the big decision came.
‘I felt it was time to call it a day,’ he told this newspaper.
‘To tell the truth the competitive edge was starting to go. I wasn’t prepared to put in the time and effort. The body was giving problems - my shoulder and knee. I didn’t know what was coming down the track.
‘With the problem with Covid there was no senior golf in Europe this year. My timing was about perfect.
‘I’m still involved. I always had a great interest in the game and young people coming into the game. I’m very keen on that. I help out Team Ireland Golf with young players - Walker Cup and Irish internationals - when turning professional. Team Ireland basically helps young pros to give them a leg up as they start careers in the professional game.’
Des acknowledged that he will miss the life of a professional, ‘but it can’t go on forever. My career would have been one of the longest. I was very lucky I was practically injury-free down most of the years, even though near the end I was getting niggles. I was basically ready for this [retirement].’
He has three children and three grandchildren. ‘I have a lot going on on my family side but I’d still be keen to stay involved in the game because I still love the game.’
However, practice and playing, which had been part of his daily routine for decades, had ‘tailed off quite a bit’ and after 46 years of professional compet
To tell the truth, the competitive edge was starting to go. I wasn’t prepared to put in the time and effort.
itive golf he no longer has the appetite to play regular rounds during the week, although he still nips down to the County Louth club near his home in Baltray to practise every now and then.
‘Generally, if I play I play only nine holes,’ he said. ‘I’m not that keen on playing a lot of golf.
I play a bit of social golf with friends. I’m happy to do that.’
Des stays in contact with those that he played with on tour, with modern technology like text messaging and WhatsApp making communication quite easy. He names Mark James and Sam Torrance, two former Ryder Cup captains, among those with whom he keeps in touch.
Sometimes the reason for making contact with his contemporaries on tour relates to ill health and very sadly Des learned of the recent deaths of Gordon Brand jnr, a Scot, and Gordon J Brand from England.
Reflecting on his own longevity playing and competing in the game, Des said it provided him with immense pleasure, playing twice in the Ryder Cup was ‘huge’ and it was a ‘great thrill and honour’ to be twice a vice-captain to the European team.
‘The other thing I enjoyed very much was when we won the Dunhill Cup in 1988.’ That victory for Ireland, achieved alongside Eamon Darcy and Ronan Rafferty, was achieved by taking on and beating the best teams in the world in head-to-head singles stroke matchplay at St Andrews.
The feat was a precursor for the great things that were to happen in Irish professional golf, with Padraig Harrington blazing the trail by winning three majors in 2007/8, and Graeme Mc
Dowell, Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy following his example picking up titles - four of them in the latter’s case.
‘That was a great highlight as far as I was concerned,’ he said about the Dunhill victory, which came in a decade in which he produced his best results, winning five of his eight European Tour titles. The one missing in his trophy cabinet was the Irish Open and he said that was something he will always regret.
During his time in the paid ranks the sport went global, with its popularity expanding across countries and indeed continents, while the professional competitors have become supremely conditioned and prepared athletes - mentally as well as physically. In today’s world the level and intensity of competition makes it harder to sustain a lengthy career on tour.
‘The sport, since I started, has changed completely,’ Des acknowledged.
‘Without doubt it is a global game. Back in the 70s Great Britain and Ireland and the US were strong. The rest of the world there wasn’t a whole lot happening apart from Australia and South Africa.
‘Countries have invested in golf because of all the benefits the game will bestow on people who are playing it. I have never known so many people to play golf as during Covid.
‘It was once considered an elite sport. Not any more. It is part of the Olympic family. So many play golf round the world it is astonishing.’
He didn’t know whether the surge in numbers playing the game was temporary or not, but pointed out that people see the benefits of the sport from a general and mental health perspective and it could continue to be played ‘because you are hardly close to anybody on a golf course’.
However, the worldwide playing boom has had an impact on players in this country seeking to turn professional and make a career as a touring player.
‘It is much more difficult because of the competition coming from all over the world. It is much tougher to get a card than ever it was.’ Nevertheless, there are several offshoots of the main tour and he feels ‘everyone who plays on the different tours is a quality player’.
This all feeds into the role Des has with Golf Ireland, and what advice he might offer to aspiring tour players. He wouldn’t wish to dash the dream of a young player but adds: ‘In days gone by, if you could make the Irish amateur international team you kind of thought you were nearly ready to make the next step to professional.
‘In today’s world it doesn’t cut it any more. You need to be an elite player. You want to be comfortable on the Walker Cup before you consider going professional because of the difficult competition out there, with so many players competing.
‘I’m always reluctant to tell people not to follow their dream, [but] if they feel they want to, they want to be aware of the standard they are stepping into.’
The toils and struggles faced by Ireland’s famous five who were members of the victorious Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team in 2015 provides a cautionary tale.
Paul Dunne seemed to make a seamless transition, winning the British Masters, but then lost his card after battling with a wrist injury. The other four Walker Cup heroes - Gavin Moynihan, Cormac Sharvin, Gary Hurley and Jack Hume - have all had their tribulations, to put it mildly.
The one bright light of the younger Irish brigade on tour whose name has been consistently appearing near the top of leaderboards in recent tournaments is Jonathan Caldwell.
The ‘Big Boys’, though, are still challenging at the upper level, led by Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry who pulled off a marvellous feat in winning last year’s Open in Portrush.
‘Golf and Ireland have a lot to be proud of,’ Des insisted.
‘I think for a little country we have done well. The sport has punched well above its weight and every now and then a Tiger – probably the best player I have seen - comes along. It’s the same in most sports, such as Messi and Ronaldo in soccer.
‘We have a good system here in Ireland, with good structures in clubs to make sure any young boy or girl with talent will be encouraged and gets into programmes and will be given support.’
As an ambassador to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Des continues to engage in promoting the game with young people.
‘I bring the trophy round the schools where the tournament is held to get them interested in the game and bring them to the event. I did it at Royal County Down and Portrush and was involved two years ago in Lahinch. There wasn’t much to do this year, although I was in Galgorm. Because of Covid it was a much smaller event.’