The Met Golfer Book Review: Feherty
The golf world loves David Feherty, the ex-golfer from Northern Ireland turned broadcaster and entertainer. He never won a major tournament, never was No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but inexplicably has captured the hearts and souls of those tuning into television coverage of golf events or walking the fairways of tournaments wherever professional golf is played.
Award-winning writer John Feinstein has spent nearly 40 years around this enigmatic figure, and he has delivered a touching but gripping chronicle of Feherty's life with its triumphant ups and tragic downs. "Feherty" (Hachette Books, $30) has a powerhouse duo guaranteed to keep you turning each page to learn which path the subject will travel next.
Feinstein recounts Feherty's years on the European Tour where he won five events and his formidable play as a member of the 1991 European Ryder Cup team. He also provides countless anecdotes of Feherty's interactions with Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Payne Stewart, and Seve Ballesteros, many of them hilarious and a result of Feherty's ability to bring the best out of those who might not have been so eager to discuss the issue of the moment Feherty was attempting to elicit from them.
The author delves into Feherty's personal side with care and sensitivity, but that does not stop Feherty from describing his numerous battles with alcohol and drugs and even his depiction as an individual with an addiction-prone personality who will ride a bicycle for miles daily to forget his troubles or how he indulges in similar addictive habits.
Feinstein traces much of Feherty's addiction problems to growing up during Northern Ireland's Troubles, being diagnosed and dealing with ADD, experiencing a difficult first marriage, and suffering the loss of a son to alcohol and drugs. Despite these setbacks in his life, Feherty finds a way to employ humor in discussing them with Feinstein as well as using them as part of his stand-up comic routine that plays to sold out audiences.
Today he is a commentator on the LIV Tour broadcast team providing a tone of understanding of what it means to be an underdog while searching for respect and acceptance in the sports world. Adding to his resurgent life is a second marriage to a woman who has been playing the role, not merely as a wife for more than 20 years, but as his savior and guiding light – much to David's good fortune and delight.