Gent who brought giant to his knees
Tributes pour in after Ryder Cup hero dies, aged 67
ANOTHER folk hero was taken far too young yesterday with the sudden, shocking death of Christy O’Connor Jr, while on holiday in Tenerife, at the age of just 67.
It says everything about the impact Christy made, not just on Irish sport but Irish life, that President Michael Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny joined golfers such as Shane Lowry and Paul McGinley in paying tribute.
Irish sports minister Michael Ring put it beautifully when he said: ‘Christy was one of the leading lights in Irish golf who represented our country with honour and who led the road for the likes of Padraig Harrington, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and others. On a personal note, there wasn’t a nicer person you could meet. Fame never went to his head.’
McGinley said: ‘We’ve lost a true Irishman, character and golfer.’
While Ireland will remember the man who also designed courses, worked quietly to benefit charities in his native Galway and was a dedicated patron of Ireland’s Special Olympics team, golfers of a certain age throughout these isles will inevitably recall Christy’s epic moment in the sun at The Belfry in 1989 — one etched into Ryder Cup lore and centred around the greatest two iron ever played.
Indeed, if you had to pick one contest to sum up the magic of the modern Ryder Cup, a game that illustrated how the plucky European underdog came to be a match for the American giant, you could not do better than his singles tie against Fred Couples on that unforgettable Sunday afternoon.
This really was David against Goliath. O’Connor had missed out on a second Ryder Cup appearance in 1985 by £115, and was furious when captain Tony Jacklin overlooked him for a wild card.
It was the turn of the Press to be irate when Jacklin did pick him on seemingly flimsier grounds in 1989. O’Connor was 41 and had not played in the Ryder Cup for 14 years. Fleet Street was in full cry when O’Connor duly lost in his only appearance over the first two days.
Jacklin tried to do Christy a favour by placing him in the middle of the singles order, only to be second-guessed by American skipper Raymond Floyd, as his name came out alongside that of a future world No 1 in Couples. One Sunday newspaper wrote off O’Connor’s chances there and then.
Except, the match did not prove quite the one-sided affair predicted and they were all-square playing the last in what would prove the pivotal game of the tournament.
Bringing up the rear, Sam Torrance, Sir Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam were exhausted from their exertions over the first two days. If Europe were to retain the Ryder Cup and the feelgood atmosphere the continent was awash in, it needed a new hero to step forward. O’Connor found the fairway at the 18th easily enough but it was a measure of the difference in ability that Couples’s monster effort from the tee was still rising as it passed the Irishman’s. While O’Connor would have a two iron for his approach, Couples had a nine iron.
‘Come on Christy, one more good swing for Ireland,’ Jacklin implored.
From the moment the ball left the blade, it was clear O’Connor had done that — and more. As the ball landed on the three-tier green, a roar gathered momentum in the packed grandstand. As it made its way up the green to finish a scarcely believable four feet from the hole, the place erupted. Poor Couples. He never hit a nine iron so badly again in his life. When he missed his par putt, he conceded the match. Christy looked to the heavens before falling into the arms of his wife Ann. Great sobs of joy engulfed him. The Ryder Cup was retained, following a 14-14 tie. No wonder men who know what it is like to play under such pressure, like Ian Poulter and Justin Rose, used Twitter to pay their respects yesterday.
O’Connor would show his strength of mind again a decade later, following the death of his teenage son, Darren, in a road accident. He would win the Senior Open and then successfully defend it, and twice more Ireland was in rapture. Among the courses O’Connor would go on to design was Esker Hills, where Lowry learned the game.
He was happiest of all drinking pints and swapping stories, however, and his death has understandably left Ireland bereft, offering sincere condolences to Ann and his surviving children, son Nigel and daughter Aine.
‘This is the saddest day for Irish golf that I can remember,’ said his devastated friend and fellow Ryder Cup hero, Eamonn Darcy.
Yes — but what a life. What a legacy.