"Attempting to play," responds Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh when asked if he still enjoys a round of golf.
At a fundraiser last year the 87-year-old was about to card a score closer to his age than par. A comment from one of his playing partners on the day drew a smile but also cut.
"I got a lesson at the end of a round last September," Centra Hurling ambassador Ó Muircheartaigh told Balls.
"There's a place down in Killarney, Queen of Angels, they look after people with disabilities. They have a big fundraiser every year and I often play in it. I played last in it last September.
"There was a person who had been in Queen of Angels. He was the best of the four of us at the golf. He had won a silver medal in the Special Olympics at golf. Coming down the 18th, he said to me 'Was this your first day on a golf course?'
"I decided it was almost time to quit but I haven't quit. He said what he thought. Another person might say, 'You had an off day'."
The former GAA commentator's favourite course is at the tip of the Dingle Peninsula. Links courses, in general, are preferred.
I play the nearest golf course to the United States, it's Ceann Sibeal in Dingle. That's a favourite course.
It's pure sand, the Atlantic is all around you. I went one day up to the top of the mountain there near it, near the sea to hit a ball into the widest fairway in the world: the Atlantic Ocean. You couldn't be off the fairway.
I said one day maybe that ball will be washed up somewhere on the eastern coast of the United States.
"It's a great game because you can play it at any age," he continued.
"There are so many courses. As Jimmy Magee used to say - Jimmy was a good friend of mine - he said golf is the only game where even the worst player in the world could play on the best course in the world. If you're not a good tennis player, you'll never play in Wimbledon."
Centra’s #WeAreHurling campaign celebrates the passion displayed by those in Ireland’s collective hurling community and shines a light on those who devote their lives to the game, helping to make our national sport a pillar of Irish pride. In attendance is Centra Ambassador and GAA Commentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh during the Centra Hurling Media Launch at Glasnevin, Co Dublin.
Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
