David Feherty

39
David Feherty bigraphy, stories - Professional golfer, broadcaster, writer

David Feherty : biography

13 August 1958 –

David Feherty (born August 13, 1958) is a former professional golfer on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He now works as a writer and broadcaster with CBS Sports and Golf Channel.

Feherty was born in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. He turned professional in 1976 and spent most of his playing career in Europe, where he won five times and finished in the top ten twice in the European Tour’s Order of Merit, placing tenth in 1989 and eighth in 1990. He spent 1994 and 1995 playing mainly on the PGA Tour in the U.S., and the best result on the tour was a second place finish at the 1994 New England Classic. His combined career earnings exceeded $3 million. Feherty represented Ireland in international competition and captained the victorious 1990 Alfred Dunhill Cup team. Feherty played for Europe on the 1991 Ryder Cup team.

In 1997, Feherty retired from the tours and joined CBS Sports as an on-course reporter and golf analyst. Feherty is a contributor to Golf Magazine and has his own column in the back of the magazine called Sidespin. He is also the New York Times and Booksense bestselling author of four books, A Nasty Bit of Rough, Somewhere in Ireland a Village Is Missing an Idiot, An Idiot for All Seasons, and David Feherty’s Totally Subjective History of the Ryder Cup. On 21 June 2011, Feherty premiered his own weekly primetime talk show called Feherty on the Golf Channel.

Feherty is also a co-announcer on EA Sports’ Tiger Woods PGA Tour series with Jim Nantz. He lives with his wife (Anita) and five children in Dallas, Texas. He is a periodic guest on Dallas’ sports radio station, KTCK. He appears in advertisements for the Cobra golf company, showing off his trampolining and cheerleading skills in the advert, to show off the company’s Speed drivers and woods.

Feherty has had a long struggle with depression and alcoholism, which he publicly addressed in 2006. In an interview with Golf Magazine about his problems, Feherty said "I used alcohol to mask my inner demons". The outspoken columnist then took a shot at actor and noted Scientologist Tom Cruise, who has said that therapy and drugs are useless and that depression can be cured by physical exercise: "Actually, some sort of exercise would have helped me. If I kicked the shit out of Tom Cruise, I’d feel a lot better about myself." Along with George Lopez, Feherty hosted the Lopez-Feherty Foundation Anti-Pro-Am in November 2005.

In 2008, Feherty was hit by a truck while cycling. He suffered three broken ribs, which punctured his lung. He was hospitalized for a few days with a tube in his chest. He resumed his broadcast duties at the 2008 Masters. Feherty guest starred in the Season 6 episode of Yes, Dear ("Greg’s a Mooch").

In the 18 April 2009, issue of D Magazine, Feherty was one of five writers to comment on George W. Bush’s move to Dallas. In his article, Feherty uses the article to express his support of Bush and to speak on politics. Criticism was aimed at Feherty for this suggestive comment about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid: From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this, though: despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Osama bin Laden, there’s a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death."

Feherty made the following controversial remarks and described his politics as such: "As for me, my politics are somewhere in the middle—and then way outside both wings. I believe in the death penalty, especially for pro-lifers, child molesters, those opposed to gay marriage, and for stupid dancing in the end zone. I believe in the abolition of estate taxes and the Pickens Plan. I’d lower the legal drinking age and raise the driving age to 18 nationwide, make Kinky Friedman governor of Texas, and make all schools, public and private, start earlier with one hour of physical exercise."