Farewell to Christy O’Connor - golf’s king of swing

Christy O’Connor didn’t subscribe to the view that his enormous success on the golf course was attributable to a natural God-given talent for the game.

He once told his nephew Christy Junior that “if being a natural golfer was the result of hitting thousands of golf balls, so be it”.

It was the great man’s way of underlining the many hours he spent on the practice grounds of golf courses throughout Ireland like Galway, Tuam, Bundoran, Killarney, and Royal Dublin, where he worked at one time or another as club professional, not to mention the thousands of iron shots he hit off the sand on Dollymount beach.