THUNDER BAY – Tiger Woods is so comfortable with David Feherty that he’ll tell him off-colour jokes while walking down the fairway together.
Despite how well they get along on course, Woods has yet to appear on Feherty’s self-titled show on the Golf Channel.
There’s good reason, the soon-to-be 60-year-old said during his recent stop in Thunder Bay, where his Off Course show made a stop at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium.
“I’ve never asked Tiger, because he’s never been in a place, certainly since I’ve been doing my Golf Channel show, where I would have been comfortable interviewing him,” Feherty said.
“I want him to be the same kid that I watched grow up on the golf course and we kind of beat that out of him, the media did. But I think he’ll get there. I think he’ll probably be my last show.”
Woods, winner of 79 PGA tournaments and 14 majors, has made a successful return to the tour in 2018, after years on the sidelines battling personal demons and injuries that left him unable to compete anywhere close to the level that once made him the most famous athlete on the planet.
As recently as a few years ago, the question really wasn’t when Woods was going to hit 18 majors to tie the great Jack Nicklaus, but when.
While Feherty has no illusions that Woods will dominate, he’s confident the 42-year-old will find his way to the winner’s circle again, likely on one of golf’s biggest stages.
“I think he’ll get to 15 (majors),” Feherty said. “I’m not sure if he’ll get to 18, but I think he’ll get to 15. I really do.”
Part stand-up comedian, part Barbara Walters, Feherty, who last year lost his 29-year-old son Shey to a drug overdose, didn’t set out to tame the television world. A five-time winner on the European Tour who finished in the top 10 twice in the Open Championship and made the 1991 Ryder Cup team, the Northern Ireland-born golfer fell into the gig by accident while in the depths of a lifelong battle with drugs and alcohol.
He then spent 15 years roaming the sidelines for CBS, most famous for his wry self-deprecating wit and insight into the game, before leaving for NBC Sports in 2015.
Feherty joked he thought CBS officials were looking to do an expose on drugs in sports when they approached him to join the network.
His comedy show draws upon his life in golf, but he also mixes in a good dose of Irish humour at the start to warm the crowd to his sense of humour – which left the audience in stitches and wiping tears of laughter from their eyes for nearly two hours on Saturday night.
“Essentially it’s the story of my life and career, along with a lot of other peoples’ stories, people like Nicklaus and Trevino and Palmer and Kenny Venturi. These stories, if I don’t tell them, (who will)?”
Quick with a joke, Feherty, who was hit by a truck 11 years ago and has not played golf since, also showed his vulnerable side a bit on Saturday night during a brief Q&A session as his show came to a close.
Asked who his ideal foursome was, he pondered for a second before answering.
“I would play with Jack. I would play with Arnold. And I’d like to have one more round with my son.”
