Christy O’Connor Jnr: The Ryder Cup flag flies figuratively at half-mast

It was announced today that the 67-year-old Irishman had died suddenly in Spain

Christy O’Connor Jnr pictured in 2000 (GETTY IMAGES)

The European Ryder Cup flag flies figuratively at half-mast following the death of Christy O’Connor Jnr.

If ever a golf shot came to represent a career it was the 2-iron he fired at the closing hole in his singles match against Fred Couples at the Belfry in 1989. He didn’t have to make the putt the stroke was so good and the point it yielded helped Europe to a tie and ownership of the Ryder Cup for the third year in succession.

Romantics might attribute to that moment a hefty significance, the departure point perhaps for the great period of Irish golf that continued with Paul McGinley’s Ryder Cup heroics at the same venue, the major success of Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and latterly Rory McIlroy, who was only five months old when that signature putt dropped.

O’Connor Jnr was the nephew of the Christy O’Connor Snr, who is still with us at 90 and had the more substantial career. But he never had the platform the Ryder Cup offered the younger man, who entered fable with his tearful reaction to his momentous win.

O’Connor’s death aged 67 while on holiday with his wife Ann in Tenerife left Irish golf, and indeed the nation, in a state of shock. Tributes were led by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny who wrote on Twitter: “Very sad to hear of the passing of Ryder Cup hero Christy O'Connor Jnr. Deepest sympathies to his wife Ann, daughter Ann and son Nigel.”

Pop star Ronan Keating was another to offer heartfelt condolences, as was jockey Barry Geraghty and former Ryder Cup skipper Paul McGinley, who described O’Connor as “a true Irishman, character and golfer.”

O’Connor was a four-time winner on the European Tour and played his first Ryder Cup match in 1975, four years before the Great Britain and Ireland template had evolved to become Europe.

He was disappointed not to be in the vanguard of that new dawn but made up for that ten years later when recalled to the team by captain Tony Jacklin. The contest was at boiling point with the tension evident in the first singles match of the day featuring Seve Ballesteros and nemesis Paul Azinger.

The American challenged Ballesteros’s request early in the piece to change a ball allegedly out of shape. Ballesteros countered by questioning the validity of Azinger’s drop after finding water at the last. Azinger prevailed to set America on their way.

Christy O''Connor Jnr of the European team is congratulated captain Tony Jacklin and his wife after victory over the USA in the Ryder Cup at the Belfry in 1989 (GETTY IMAGES)

O’Connor was not to know it but of the five matches still out when he returned Europe’s 13th point, only Jose-Maria Canizares in the very next match would be successful on a day Europe’s big guns, including Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer as well as Ballesteros, all lost.

Couples had smashed a long drive past O’Connor’s respectable effort into position A. There are few clubs harder to hit off the deck than a 2-iron. Indeed it barely exists in the modern golfer’s bag. Under the most intense pressure, the green thronged by an expectant crowd, O’Connor lasered his career defining stroke to three feet.

Couples reeled, shanking his approach right of the green. He chipped to six feet but rolled his putt past the hole, triggering one of the great scenes in recent Ryder Cup history, O’Connor removing his flat cap and falling tearfully into the arms of his wife.