David Feherty is one of golf’s most beloved commentators.
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David Feherty played his fair share of solid golf at the highest levels, but arguably his greatest contribution to the game came in his post-playing career. Since his retirement from competitive play in the late ’90s, Feherty has become one of the most beloved figures in the golf media.
The 66-year-old is best known for his on-course reporting for CBS, NBC and now LIV Golf, but he has also had success as a writer, contributing to GOLF magazine periodically and writing several best-selling books.
Feherty has a rare gift in his ability to tell stories in a way that no one else can. But even when Feherty is a character in the story rather than the narrator, there’s bound to be some intrigue.
“Feherty’s stories are always the best,” Feherty’s longtime friend and collaborator Ian Baker-Finch said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar.
Baker-Finch recalled one particular instance when Feherty was driving through the coastal hills on his way to Pebble Beach when he hit a deer with his car. In an act of humanity, Feherty put the deer out of its misery with a gun he kept inside his car, Baker-Finch said. But when he went to remove the carcass from the road, some of the deer’s bodily fluids spilled onto his clothes.
“When he arrived at the restaurant, one of the guys said, ‘Wow, David, you smell like deer poop,'” Baker-Finch said. “(Feherty said), ‘Mhmm, it’s a long story.'”
On another occasion, Feherty was on the field at the PGA Championship when the production truck experienced technical difficulties and lost power momentarily. With no major commentators available for that period, Peter Kostis and Feherty were tasked with directing the broadcast.
“Kostis picks it up and says, ‘That’s where we were on the 13th with Shigeki Maruyama,'” Baker-Finch said. “‘David, what’s he got down there?’
David said: ‘It’s a long way to go. I’m not sure if he’ll make it.’
“We hear that whoosh and he hits him and Peter says, ‘Well, how was it?’
“He said, ‘Man, he really smoked that.’
“So he had marijuana (which Maruyama sounds like) in mind. It was a moment where David always had the quickest, funniest, smartest thing to say.”
For more stories from Baker-Finch, watch the full episode below.
