Augusta tales and a $4 cheque from Jack Nicklaus: Dermot Gilleece revisits the Golfing Log

The throwback in time is easy for Dermot Gilleece to recall, partly because he had been recuperating in Blackrock Clinic following heart bypass surgery when he opened a letter from an Irish Times reader wondering how he could acquire two tickets, as a gift for his brother’s 40th birthday, to the Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.

It was the autumn of 1996, five months after Nick Faldo had won a third green jacket, in a tournament Gilleece had covered. Gilleece’s first instinct – having received many such requests over the years – was to form a negative response along the narrative that a pocketful of cash, upwards of €10,000, would be needed to make a trip to Augusta’s hallowed grounds in any way feasible, and to wish the reader the very best of luck in his endeavours because he would need whatever luck could come his way.

Case closed? Not quite, not on this particular occasion.

Gilleece overrode his own instincts.

“Lying back in a recovery bed, I considered my position. With nothing better to do, perhaps I could make it happen. Perhaps Charlie Yates could provide the key. Yates was the long-time member of Augusta National who became known in this country as the gifted American who beat Cecil Ewing in the final of the 1938 British Amateur Championship at Royal Troon. More recently, Charlie had been in charge of media communications for the Masters.”

The author of the letter, one Liam O’Doherty, received a reply from Gilleece, then golf correspondent of The Irish Times, with the outline of a plan – somewhat outrageous in concept – that might enable him to acquire those precious tickets. It was the long shot of all long shots ... and yet, worth a go.

“I suggested to Liam that he should write to Charlie as an Irish fan of the Masters, while pointing out Yates’s link to this country through Cecil Ewing,” said Gilleece.

O’Doherty, it proved, worked his own magic, and the story is recounted in Gilleece’s new book, Stories from the Golfing Log: Tales of Triumph, Tragedy and the 19th Hole, which will be launched next week by Shay Smith, former sports editor of the Evening Press and past general secretary of the Golfing Union of Ireland (now Golf Ireland).

Not only did O’Doherty manage to connect with Yates, he hit the jackpot. He and his brother Joe were invited by Yates, as his guests, to the 1997 Masters – won by Tiger Woods – with access to the Butler Cabin among the fringe benefits.

This tale is among the many revisited by Gilleece in the book, the genesis of which came from his weekly column, Golfing Log, which appeared in these pages while he was golf correspondent from 1981 to 2001, and the paper’s golf editor from 2001-2002.

Gilleece hasn’t simply reproduced the old logs, though. Rather, he has delved back into some of his favourite stories and expanded them, with that of the O’Doherty brothers among many insightful tellings of interesting golfing tales covering both Irish and international angles.

“I’ve picked elements out of the Golfing Log to develop stories. I started looking back over stuff I’d written in The Irish Times, in the Log, and found that they contained interesting stories, in my view, and also the basis of interesting stories. I’m hoping that there’s a generation out there who were Irish Times readers in the ’80s and ’90s who remember.”

The truth is that his latest offering will also appeal to a younger generation of golfers, Gilleece’s capacity to develop and update those original stories providing a human connection, among them the chapter titled Garth and The Bear, which revolves around the brilliant Irish amateur Garth McGimpsey and Jack Nicklaus aka The Golden Bear.

McGimpsey got to play two Masters tournaments on the back of winning the Amateur Championship at Royal Dornoch in 1985 and could thank the foresight of his father, Hal, for arranging a practice round with Nicklaus in the year when The Bear won a sixth Masters title in 1986.

When the letter of invitation to play the Masters arrived at McGimpsey’s home in Bangor, Co Down, Hal – aware that Nicklaus was known to take a special interest in amateur players at Augusta National – wrote to the American and received back a letter promising to meet up with Garth on the putting green at Augusta National.

Hal presented the letter from Nicklaus to his son on Christmas morning; some four months later, the two players met on the putting green as arranged and played a practice round.

When Gilleece contacted McGimpsey for the book, the player told him of receiving a letter post-tournament from the six-time Masters champion.

“About a week or 10 days after I arrived home, there was a wonderful bonus for me. Despite all the pressures and excitement of Jack’s historic win, he still found the time to write to me. Attached to a very warm letter which told me how much he had enjoyed my company was an enclosed cheque for four dollars, with a note expressing the hope that it wouldn’t affect my amateur status.

“I was a huge fan of his growing up and, as if I needed this latest proof, here was further evidence of Jack showing himself to be really a class act. On the cheque was written ‘for getting beat at Augusta National’. Imagine, this was from the week of his sixth Masters win. Of course I still have the cheque – framed. I wonder what it would be worth.”

There are some lovely, human stories in this latest collection from Gilleece, who has written a number of books – “I’m more and more conscious of keeping the brain active,” he explains – including Farewell to the Fairways and Chasing Ladybirds. Among the stories is the touching tale of twin brothers Joe and Matt Kelly, both priests, now in their 90s, who are members of Royal Dublin Golf Club.

Fr Joe was a priest at Gilleece’s local church. “I got to know Joe because he was interested in golf, obviously, as a member of Royal Dublin. I remember every year, I would bring him back a Masters programme. And we became quite friendly. Anyway, earlier this year, in March, they celebrated 70 years in the priesthood. And I contacted Golf Ireland, who had silver medals specially struck for both of them and presented them to them in honour of their contribution to golf over many years.

“Christy O’Connor Snr played with them. They met Bill Clinton in Royal Dublin. The chapter in the book about them is just different. It’s not meant to be religious, it’s just they are remarkable men, I think,” said Gilleece.

Stories from the Golfing Log: Tales of Triumph, Tragedy and the 19th Hole by Dermot Gilleece is published by Red Stripe, €19.99