‘Greatest honour’ for emotional O’Connor

CHRISTY O’CONNOR thought it was all a leg pull when he was first told of his induction to the PGA Hall of Fame. Although widely known in his native country because of his fame as simply “Himself,” it was nevertheless typical of the man that he would never believe he was worthy of such an outstanding honour.

Thankfully, the people who make these kinds of decisions thought otherwise and so “Senior’s” big night duly came around on Monday in Florida. As he will celebrate his 85th birthday next month, he felt it would be pushing his luck to undertake the journey personally and so he dispatched a very worthy deputy in his nephew, Christy O’Connor Junior.

However, Senior did send a message to be read in front of the esteemed audience – including the great Arnold Palmer – and told of his delight at the honour.

“When George O’Grady (CEO of the European Tour) rang me from London I thought that somebody was playing a big joke on me,” he said.

“It didn’t dawn on me for a moment that I was good enough to have this honour because it is one of the greatest in the world.

“A few days afterwards Jack Peter (one of the Hall of Fame organisers) came along. He said: I’m over here to invite you into the Hall of Fame. So I said to myself, ‘well, now it’s not a joke, I know this is quite alright’.

“I’ve been walking on air since this has happened. It’s been a great thrill for me to have this at my age. I think that maybe I would have liked to have had it a little earlier but the fact is that this is as good as at any time. Golf has been good to me. I’ve had opportunities that I wouldn’t have gotten in anything else. I’ve travelled a good part of the world and this enabled me to meet different kinds of people, to see how they behaved and how they played golf.

“And I enjoyed it, I must say. I was so lucky in my life. I had good health up to a certain time of my life. I was very strong. I kept myself very fit. Of course, if you’re playing 36 holes a day, giving six or seven lessons a day at the same time, that does keep you fit.”

In the course of a humorous but sincere address to the audience, Christy Junior laughed that “Coming from the same little village as my dear uncle in Knocknacarra in the West of Ireland, a small fishing and farming village, and to think one day that I would be standing here in front of all of you people, I hope it’s true.”

He went on: “Before I go any further, the man himself who I spoke to in the last hour was so sad he couldn’t be with you all here today. Believe you me, he’s a great traveller of the world and he would have given anything to be here, but he was a little scared of the length of flight and he wished me to tell you all how sorry he is for not being here.

“He also wished me to tell you all how proud he is and how proud he has made us of being inducted into the World Hall of Fame. My little village tonight will be on fire in the West of Ireland. But there will be no prouder people than his own family, his wife, Mary, of 55 years; his daughter Anne Marie; his daughter Marguerite and her new husband, Jerry, who are here with me tonight.

“His daughters Trace and Joan and his twin sons Peter and Christopher, their partner’s wives and children are so proud of their father and granddad as I am. He’s been a fantastic inspiration to me and my family. He took two of my brothers, along with me, under his wings and put us through the PGA and gave us what we are today.”