The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Who was the first Irish man to win a Major?
SHANE Lowry’s six-shot victory in the Open Championship at Royal Portrush last year certainly gave the nation a feel-good factor not felt since Pádraig Harrington was winning majors back in the middle part of the first decade of this century.
Now I don’t want to sound disrespectful to players from north of the border, some of whom I follow with just as much enthusiasm, but when Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy won majors, there didn’t seem to be that same sense of national pride as there was when Harrington and Lowry did so, but maybe it’s because Harrington and Lowry are considered ‘our own’.
All five of them played amateur golf for Ireland and were nurtured along the way by the GUI because, like the rugby team, Ireland’s golfers from north and south of the border, play for the one national team under the umbrella of the Golfing Union of Ireland, an inclusive body that governs golf all over the island of Ireland, while the professionals also play for one team in the Dunhill Cup and Olympic games.
However, having witnessed an incident several years ago, it got me thinking that there still might be a divide there, as highlighted by David Feherty in a recent interview.
Firstly, to the incident I refer to, which took place after Ireland had won the home internationals at Ballybunion in 2003, and the Irish team, wearing their official GUI blazers, had gathered for photographs with the press.
An over-enthusiastic supporter (let’s call him that) got in behind the team and held a tricolour aloft, which immediately prompted two of the players (both from the North) to stand out of the photograph, claiming that there would be repercussions had they been photographed with the tricolour.
At the time I felt annoyed, but having spoken to both afterwards, I accepted their reasoning and could well understand their stance. They hadn’t meant any disrespect but feared for their own safety when they got back home from those who would not understand.
Pádraig Harrington’s win at the 2007 Open championship was the first win in a major by an Irish man since Fred Daly won the same championship at Hoylake in 1947, but is that really the case? Was Padraig the first or the second Irish winner?
Daly, who was born in Portrush in county Antrim, was an Ulster Protestant who was keen to be identified as British and never wanted the tag of being the first Irish man to win a major, according to David Feherty in a recent interview.
The Bangor man, who is now forging a huge television career in the USA, was Fred Daly’s assistant professional at Balmoral Golf Club in Belfast before becoming a tour player, and he obviously knew Fred quite well.
In his interview Feherty said: “When Padraig won at Carnoustie in 2007 I congratulated him on becoming the first Irish man to win an Open championship, but the ever-courteous Padraig gently reminded me about Fred Daly, except that Fred wasn’t Irish.”
Feherty continued: “I was assistant to the great man at Balmoral more than 40 years ago and I can assure you that Fred considered himself to be one hundred per cent British. He drove an orange Hillman Avenger, for God’s sake, and that’s why I told Pádraig not to mind those people who said he was the second Irish winner.”
Like Daly, Feherty is also an Ulster Protestant, but unlike Daly, he considers himself an Irish man and carries an Irish passport.
“I’m very proud to be Irish,” he says “And it’s not a political thing; it’s an emotional thing. I think most people search for an identity. We have the choice. My comments on Fred are not intended as an insult or a threat to the Peace Process. If you want to be British in Northern Ireland, you can be. I became aware of a different identity when I captained the Ireland team to victory in the Dunhill Cup in 1990.”
He added: “This is the first time I’ve talked about a feeling that came over me as I watched the Irish flag being raised at the prize-giving, and while I don’t like the tune of the national anthem, I remember looking up at the tricolour and thinking ‘that’s my flag’. It was a good feeling; the idea of representing the whole island, all 32 counties.”
When Harrington won at Carnoustie in 2007, it was one of the biggest sports stories in this country for decades, and when he retained his claret jug the following year at Royal Birkdale it was even bigger, and pretty much off the scale a short few weeks later, when he added at the PGA championship at Oakland Hills.
Graeme McDowell won the US Open in 2010 at Pebble Beach, Rory McIlroy won it the following year at Congressional and a few weeks later Darren Clarke won the Open at Royal St George’s, before Rory added the 2012 PGA at Kiawah Island and the 2014 Open at Hoylake and weeks later, the PGA at Valhalla.
However, there didn’t seem to be the same interest from the Irish public as when Harrington and Lowry won their titles, and McIlroy certainly hasn’t endeared himself to the Irish public in general on a number of occasions with comments about his nationality.
I have a feeling, however, that if he manages to win the US Masters in the not too distant future to complete his grand slam, quiz masters everywhere will be asking the question “Who is the first Irish man to win all our of golf’s major championships?” and it won’t matter if he’s from north or south of the border.