Recalling The Great Daly And The Barefoot Contestant
DERMOT GILLEECE

After more than half a lifetime as Ireland’s lone winner of a major championship, Fred Daly died at this time 20 years ago. It was only on the occasion of his passing and through subsequent chats with leading Irish amateur players that I fully appreciated the impact he had had on their careers.

The news came through to the Grand
Cypress Resort in Orlando on November
stories from his time as Fred’s assistant
at Balmoral – “the greatest two years of
my life.”
One which I remember with particular
affection concerned Garth McGimpsey,
who won 14 championships, including the
British Amateur of 1985, and then became
a Walker Cup captain before reaching
senior status last July. It happened in
1979 when Hal McGimpsey, Garth’s
father, decided that if his richly promising
son was to scale the heights of amateur
golf, a lesson from Fred was absolutely
mandatory.

Fred Daly

So, it was that the pair made the
pilgrimage to Balmoral, where Hal made
copious notes for future reference. Near
the end of the lesson, the old pro became
seriously animated, swishing the driver
vigorously with his left hand through
grass at the edge of a fairway. “That’s
it! That’s it!” the 1947 Open champion
exclaimed. Convinced he and Garth were
being made privy to a great golfing secret,
Hal eagerly inquired: “What is it, Fred?”
Only to be told: “That’s the damn moss
that’s destroying our greens.”
Maureen Madill, now a distinguished
golf commentator and another Northern-
er who captured a British Amateur crown,
recounted a very different experience with
Daly, whom she knew about from her ear-
liest days at Portstewart. As a 15-year-old
in 1973, she was to realise the dream of
every youngster by actually playing with
her childhood hero. It was a 36-hole pro-
am at Bangor GC where all the amateur
competitors were women.

When Daly arrived on the tee, she
remembers him as being “very courte-
ous” while introducing himself to Madill
and her local female partner. The girl
in question was no more than 20 with a
curtain of hair which covered her face
when she addressed the ball. “Then, as
we set off up the first fairway, I suddenly
noticed she was in her bare feet,” Madill
recalled. “Fred said nothing but I felt I
should make some attempt at conversa-
tion, so I asked her: ‘Do you always play in
your bare feet?’ To which she replied, ‘Oh
yes’, drawing a line under that particular
line of conversation.”
As the older of the two young ladies,
she of the bare feet was given the task
of marking Daly’s scorecard for a pro-
fessional’s individual competition. Poor
putting, which had become an ongoing
problem for Daly by that stage, left him
none too pleased after a six at a particular
par 4.