We have reproduced the below tribute with kind permission of the author, golf reporter Greg Allen of RTE.
Through the 1950s, 60s, 70s and even into the 1980s, Christy O’Connor Snr, who died on Saturday aged 91, was an enduring sporting star and legend whose longevity and influence as a force in golf was truly phenomenal.
From finishing 19th in his first Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 1951 to a third place finish in the 1982 Irish Open at Portmarnock at 57, O’Connor won a total of 24 international professional tournaments.
He played in ten consecutive Ryder Cups – a record bettered only by Sir Nick Faldo – and won the richest first prize in world golf at the time in capturing the 1970 John Player Classic title at Hollinwell near Nottingham at the age of 45.
The £25,000 cheque he pocketed that day was more than the Masters champion Billy Casper or the US Open Champion Tony Jacklin earned for their triumphs that year and nearly five times the amount that Jack Nicklaus received for his famous win over Doug Sanders at the Open two months earlier at St Andrews.
O’Connor was born on 21 December 1924 in Knocknacarra near Salthill, the son of a farmer whose small holding was located next to Galway Golf Club with the family roadside cottage overlooking the first green.
Young Christy was fascinated by the game played across the boundary wall and when he got his hands on some old hickory shafted clubs given to him by the club professional Pat Quinn, he would steal out and play the four holes by the sea.
In time he became an assistant to Quinn in Galway and later moved on to become the professional and greenkeeper at Tuam golf club.
In 1951, the members of Tuam believed that Christy was good enough to play in the Open, which was to be staged at Royal Portrush and so a collection was made.
With £70 in his pocket he headed north to finish in a share of 19th place behind the winner Max Faulkner.
His career was up and running and when he moved to Bundoran Golf Club, he was given time and facilities to practise and play as much as he needed to hone his game for tournament golf.
The club committee at Bundoran were highly supportive and voted to pay his expenses to play in the Swallow Penfold tournament at Southport and Ainsdale in 1955.
Christy won, earning a cheque for £1000, the equivalent of a year’s wages at the time.
He was then 30 years old but his relatively late start in professional tournament play would not inhibit his progression and he would blossom and improve well into his 40s and remain remarkably competitive into his late 50s.
He played in the British Open on 26 occasions, finishing in the top ten on 10 occasions but he never won the Claret Jug he coveted so much.
The closest he came was in 1965 when he bogeyed the final hole at Royal Birkdale, finding a bunker off the tee to lose out to the eventual champion, Australian Peter Thomson, by a single stroke.
He received numerous invitations to compete in the Masters but turned them all down, citing the expense involved and the fact that in April, his game would not be sufficiently ‘tuned up’ after a long winter of competitive inactivity.
He was, nonetheless, a world figure in the game, largely as a result of the success he and Harry Bradshaw achieved in the Canada Cup in Mexico in 1958. The event would subsequently become the World Cup and the victory put Ireland on the global map of golf.
That triumph was part of an extraordinary run of international victories which saw Christy hold a trophy aloft every year from his Swallow Penfold success in 1955 to his John Player Classic victory in 1970.
In a similar period, he represented Britain and Ireland in the Ryder Cup in ten consecutive matches from 1955 to 1973, famously defeating Dow Finsterwald by a massive margin of 7 and 6 at Lindrick in 1957 on his only appearance on a winning team.
Finsterwald would become USPGA Champion the following year.
There are many illustrations of his longevity in the game and probably none more impressive than his halved match with the then reigning Open Champion Tom Weiskopf on his final Ryder Cup appearance in 1973 at 48 years of age.
He also made a rare competitive top flight appearance in his late 50s in the 1982 Irish Open at Portmarnock where he tied for third place, alongside Greg Norman and Faldo, just four months short of his 58th birthday.
Among his famous victories, there were none more impressive that his success in the 1966 Carroll’s International at Royal Dublin where he finished eagle, birdie, eagle over the closing three holes to beat Scotland’s Eric Brown by two shots.
A plaque by the 16th tee on the course now commemorates that extraordinary flourish of brilliance.
His many achievements in the game were recognised in 2009 with his induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Requiem Mass will be held on Tuesday May 17 at 11.30am at St John the Baptist Church, Clontarf Road, followed by the funeral at St. Fintan’s Cemetery, Sutton. Family flowers only please, donations in lieu, if desired, to the Stroke Care Unit, Mater Hospital. A special thank you to the ICU/Stroke Care Unit for their wonderful care of Christy. House private please.
