Golf
Dermot Gilleece on an American with the gift of the gab
Fred Corcoran, the ‘Irish’ golf impresario
Corcoran’s friends liked to call him ‘The Cork’ and one could imagine him being in his element as tournament director of the Canada Cup, when it was staged at Portmarnock GC in June 1960. He did much to project the event to international prominence, having already achieved an enviable reputation by guiding the career of the great Sam Snead.
Fred Corcoran was an American who dearly wanted to be Irish. Indeed he liked to project himself as a true-blue seanachai, with an appropriate gift for story-telling, especially about golf, the game that made him famous. His friends liked to call him ‘The Cork’ and one could imagine him being in his element as tournament director of the Canada Cup, when it was staged at Portmarnock GC in June 1960. He did much to project the event to international prominence, having already achieved an enviable reputation by guiding the career of the great Sam Snead.
Corcoran arranged a match between Sam Snead and the Duke of Windsor, arising out of the 1963 staging of the Canada Cup at St-Nom-La-Breteche in Paris, where the Duke happened to be a member.
As it happened, Snead became the cornerstone of Corcoran’s activities as a budding entrepreneur, when The Cork was appointed manager of the fledgling PGA Tour in the US in 1936. I’ve lost count of the wonderful stories I have come across about Corcoran and Snead in my ventures into golfing lore over the years. A particular favourite involved a golfmatch between Snead and the Duke of Windsor, arising out of the 1963 staging of the Canada Cup at St-Nom-La-Breteche in Paris, where the Duke happened to be a member.
Perhaps a cheque made out to Snead might be in order. Determined to improve his client’s image, however, the agent suggested that an autographed photograph would be a better idea. Which didn’t go down especially well with Snead. ‘Next time,’ he berated Corcoran, ‘take the cheque. If I want to start a picture collection of kings, I can buy a deck of cards for a couple of coins in a drugstore.’
Relentless in his promotion of Snead, Corcoran could see an obvious dividend in this association with British royalty, which allowed him to soften the player’s notorious reputation for parsimony. It seems that the match went very well and a few days later, the Duke called Corcoran to arrange suitable recompense for the celebrated professional.
Corcoran’s Irishness made him extremely conscious of the importance of the Pope as a much-admired religious figure. And, as it happened, he had little difficulty in converting Snead to this view, though for a surprisingly interesting reason. This had to do with the putting problems which plagued Snead throughout his tournament career.
42 Senior Times l January - February 2022 l www.seniortimes.ie
