Irish major quartet keeping the green in Augusta National
Given the success of our golfers over the past two decades, people may be inclined to take such representation for granted.
But it was not always the case.
Indeed, it took an amateur to become the first Irishman to tee it up in the Masters. Because of the influence of the legendary Bobby Jones, one of the founders of Augusta National, distinguished amateurs have always received an invitation to the tournament. And when Joe Carr captured the British Amateur Championship in 1966, the priceless letter duly landed at his Sutton home in north Dublin.
Whereas his esteemed professional contemporary, Christy O’Connor Senior, felt obliged to turn down several invitations around that time because it didn’t make financial sense for him to travel to the States for one event, Carr felt no such inhibitions.
He was delighted to accept the invitation in April, 1967, and abided by the tradition of amateur invitees spending the week in the “Crow’s Nest” located on the top floor of the clubhouse.
As a further testimony to his stature in the game, he was paired with no less than Jack Nicklaus in the first two rounds. He was not a man to be daunted by any challenge, making the cut with rounds of 76 and 74. The Golden Bear, though, shot 72, 79 and was eliminated!
Twelve months later, they sent Arnold Palmer out with Carr and he didn’t fare any better. Joe shot 75 and 73 to make the weekend; Palmer replicated Nicklaus’s 72, 79 and was on his way home.
In his third visit to the Masters, Carr partnered Sam Snead — and both missed the cut!
Ulster’s Garth McGimpsey was rewarded for his Amateur Championship victory in 1985 with a place in the Masters field on each of the two following years. In 1986, he had the distinction of playing a practice round with Nicklaus and taking $4 off the great man.
Mind you, Jack could afford it, given that he went on to become the tournament’s oldest ever champion (46) a few days later.!
McGimpsey missed the cut on both visits, as did two other Irish winners of the Amateur Championship, Michael Hoey in 2002 and Brian McElhinney in 2006.
The first Irish professional to make it to the Masters was Ronan Rafferty, the then European number one, in 1990. He performed very creditably to tie for 14th and so earn a return visit in 1991, when he missed the cut.
David Feherty played all four rounds in 1992 and finished in a share of 52nd.
Irish participation in the Masters didn’t become a regular occurrence until 1998, when Clarke made the first of 10 successive appearances. He tied eighth that year and it remains his best finish in his 10 appearances. He returns to Augusta this weekend for the first time since 2007.
Harrington hopes his 13th visit to the Masters will prove a lucky one. He shared 19th in his first year in 2000 and since then has been fifth twice and seventh once, although he has missed the cut for the last two years. Paul McGinley qualified in 2002 and tied for 18th but failed to reach the weekend on his next visit in 2006.
Augusta has proved something of a struggle for Graeme McDowell. He missed the cut in three of his four appearances and shared 17th in 2009. McIlroy tied 20th in his first year, 2009, missed the cut in 2010 and after all the well-chronicled trauma of his final round 12 months ago, having started the final day four strokes ahead, eventually settled for 15th.
