Feherty Does TV Golf His Way

At those moments when televised golf gets a bit dull, you can often turn to the wry wit of CBS analyst David Feherty for enjoyment.

He’s the Irish player-turned-

commentator who once said Jim Furyk’s unorthodox swing “looks like an octopus falling out of a tree, or a man trying to kill a snake in a telephone booth.”

Excerpts from a question-and-answer session with Feherty in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Q: What’s the hardest part of your job?

A: Not saying anything that will get me fired.

Q: What’s the worst mistake you’ve ever made on the air?

A: At the PGA Championship at Sahalee, I said Steve Stricker had a six-foot putt straight up the hole. There was a pregnant pause as I could hear people saying, “What did he say?”

Q: When CBS isn’t doing the tournament, do you watch golf on TV?

A: Occasionally. I like Curtis [Strange]. I love Peter Alliss. I love Roger Maltbie. You’re right, I conspicuously didn’t mention Johnny Miller.

Q: You ever get annoyed with Gary McCord?

A: Yes, but mostly because of his footwear. I’d rather have my feet amputated than wear that stuff.

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More Feherty: In an online column written as a contributing editor for Golf magazine, Feherty scoffs at such oft-repeated local knowledge as “everything breaks toward the ocean.”

If you’re in Scotland and some wizened old caddie tells you, “The sheep are lying doon, that means it’s going to rain,” Feherty says you should ignore the man.

“You’re in Scotland, and it’s always going to rain. The sheep are lying down because they’re either tired or dead.”

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Trivia time: Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record on April 8, 1974. Who was the Atlanta Braves’ manager at the time?

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Sad but true: Jody Berry of Beverly Hills, former pro boxer and Hollywood entertainer, is from Owensboro, Ky., same as Sunday’s Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip. When Waltrip won, only to have his victory sadly overshadowed by Dale Earnhardt’s crash and death, Berry wondered about the headline Monday morning in the Owensboro newspaper, the Messenger-Inquirer.

“I called a friend and he read it to me,” Berry said. “It was exactly the same headline as The Times: ‘We Lost Dale Earnhardt.’ I think they did exactly the right thing.”

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Trivia answer: Eddie Mathews, the Hall of Fame third baseman who died Sunday in La Jolla at 69.

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And finally: A New York Times story about O.J. Simpson’s life in South Florida, where he lives with his daughter, now 15, and son, 12, summed up one resident’s attitude toward Simpson, who faces charges in a recent road rage incident.

“Would I be afraid of him being my neighbor? No,” said Cristina Pertierra, one of the owners of a bar Simpson frequents.

“Would I date him? No.”