FRED DALY MEMORABILIA GOES ON DISPLAY AT ROYAL PORTRUSH

Royal Portrush has been presented with a trophy won by Fred Daly almost 75 years ago to add to a collection of special memorabilia which the club is putting on display in honour of the former Open Champion.

The News of the World match play cup which he won at Royal Birkdale in 1948, the year after his historic victory at Royal Liverpool was handed over to the men’s captain Ashley Moore.

The cup is one of a number of items which have been obtained as part of a programme to develop a major archive, some of it dedicated to the man who was born and brought up in Causeway St., Portrush, not far from the Dunluce Links which he regarded as his spiritual home.

They include two of his blazers which he wore when he was captain of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) and as a member of four Britain and Ireland Ryder Cup teams between 1947 and 1953. They were recovered from a guest room wardrobe in a house in Co Fermanagh.

Copies of the four score cards which he signed off when he won the Open at Royal Liverpool in 1947, as well as a Waterford Crystal pen and clock set presented to him at Royal Dublin by the Links Golf Society a few years before died aged 79 in 1990, will also be on display.

The cast of a life-sized sculptured metal bust of the former Open Champion is also to go on show. His gold Open Championship medal is already on display alongside Darren Clarke’s (2011, Royal St George’s) in a cabinet in the club’s foyer.

Sir Richard McLaughlin, the club president, who is heavily involved in helping to establish the archive, said, ““The club is very, very keen to secure as much memorabilia as possible, not just linked to Fred Daly. Maybe documents, old photographs and various objects which tell the story and history of Royal Portrush. We would encourage anyone who finds anything in an attic or around their house relating to the club’s history to get in touch so that we can continue to expand our archives.”