A NORTHSIDE man, who recently turned 87, was the toast of his local golf club when he won a competition at the 57th attempt.
On June 30, Oliver O’Farrell, better known as Ollie, won Jim McMahon’s Captain’s Prize. Playing off a handicap of 32, Oliver, who was Club President in 1991, now plays in a buggy, having had two hips and one knee replaced.
Having shot 38 in the qualifier and another 38 on the final day, and playing in the second last 3-ball, Oliver’s 76 was hailed the winning score once the final 3 ball finished.
Oliver and his wife Bunny received congratulations all round. Oliver was enjoying his whiskey when rumblings of a possible play-off began to emerge.
It transpired that one of Oliver’s partners, David Smith, an intermediate member playing off 12, who finished on 75, had incorrectly cut himself one shot from the qualifying day.
David, at 21-years-of-age, is approximately one quarter of Ollie’s age and the pair set out to battle over the three-hole playoff where Oliver had a five shot advantage.
Ollie played a miraculous shot onto the green at the first play-off hole from behind a tree to go one point up and then sank a very difficult 15ft putt on the second play-off hole to go three points up.
David needed a birdie at the difficult Par 5 finishing hole (9th Yellow) and David hit an enormous drive. Both Oliver and David then found the trees. David made the green in three and had a birdie chance, which he narrowly missed.
Oliver was left in a “have 2 take 2” situation and he duly lagged up for victory, in front of a packed clubhouse balcony.
Euphoria abounded in Malahide during the week with the Indian cricketers hitting 6s at will, but the reaction from the clubhouse balcony following Oliver’s win surpassed all the excitement at the cricket club.
An accomplished mariner, Oliver hails from Clifden and spent many years in New York before settling down in Malahide in the 1960s, where he and his wife Bunny have given long service to Malahide Golf Club.
Captain Jim McMahon, in his congratulatory speech, said judging by the reaction from the membership this was without doubt the most popular ever Captain’s prize-winner and proved the point that allowing some of the members play off 32 made them competitive again.
Malahide Golf Club captains have a caricature portrait completed to mark their term of office and many of these now hang on the walls of the snooker room in the club. An image is printed on the final day scorecard. Captain Jim’s late father Pat was captain in 1999, the same year Ollie’s wife Bunny was Lady Captain.