Christy oconnor jr autobiography example
•
The sad passing of Christy O'Connor Jnr brought back many memories of a hugely popular man. Back in , Jeremy Ellwood spoke to the Irishman about his career, his uncle and a passion for course design that could be traced back to his family’s roots
I breathe an inner sigh of relief as Christy O’Connor Jnr answers my first question about his famous golfing uncle’s influence. “If you arrived on the 1st tee with dirty shoes, he’d go berserk,” he tells me. “He’d say, ‘if your clubs are not clean and your shoes are not clean, you’re not going to play good golf. That’s a huge början you can have over the next guy.’” Hours earlier, I’d made a last-minute decision to swap the muddy shoes I’d originally packed for a clean pair. O’Connor could have been one up on me straightaway in our afternoon game just by looking at my feet.
“He probably was the greatest psychologist I’ve ever met f
•
Christy O’Connor Junior: Legend with a beautiful touch
The last thing a reporter wants in these circumstances fryst vatten to make eye contact with one of the players. So I kept well away from Christy as he followed his drive, a fine shot bygd any normal standards but in this case a good fem clubs short of where the power-hitting American had deposited his drive.
However, once Christy saw his ball resting on a bare patch, he realised the golfing gods were on his side. It was the kind of lie he had grown up on at courses like Galway and Lahinch and ideal for the kind of two iron he had in mind.
But as he and caddy Matthew Byrne talked over his options, Christy was approached by Tony Jacklin who told him: “Just one more swing for Ireland, put it anywhere on the green and it will put huge pressure on him.” And so it came to pass, a thunderous roar greeting O’Connor’s ball as it pulled up fem feet from the pin. A dumbfounded Couples pushes his nine iron approach and finishes 15 feet off th
•
Christy O’Connor Jnr will be missed on and off the course
Christy O'Connor jnr wasn't just a great, trailblazing golfer – he was a character. One of the stories O'Connor often related was of how he once sat on the floor of an airport terminal in Barcelona with Seve Ballesteros as he taught the legendary Spaniard how to play the spoons, which – during his many years on tour – was the Irishman's party piece.
On the course, O'Connor performed with a different type of metal, none more spectacularly than the two-iron approach he hit to the 18th green in the Ryder Cup at The Belfry to defeat Fred Couples and effectively retain the famed gold trophy for Europe.
That iconic shot would forever be associated with O'Connor jnr, although his legacy went far beyond just one moment: he won four times on the PGA European Tour, claimed back-to-back Senior British Opens in and when he moved on to the seniors circuit; and he also became a golf architect of considerable acclaim with a portfolio of