Frederick J. Daly,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(11 October 1911 – 18 November 1990) was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

, best known for winning

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

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at the

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake The Royal Liverpool Golf Club is a golf club in Wirral in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1869 on what was then the racecourse of the Liverpool Hunt Club. It received the "Royal" designation in 1871 due to the patronage of the Duke of ...

. Born in

Portrush Portrush () is a small seaside resort town on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It neighbours the resort of Portstewart. The main part of the old town, including the Portrush railway station, railway station as well as most hote ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, he was the first Irishman from either side of the border to win the Open and the first to play in the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

. He remained the only Irish winner of the Open until

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Champ ...

won it in

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and the only Northern Irish

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

winner until

Graeme McDowell Graeme McDowell (born 30 July 1979) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has a total of eleven tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Be ...

won the U.S. Open in

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Early life

Daly was born in Causeway Street,

on 11 October 1911, the son of Daniel and Anne Daly. His father was a blacksmith. He was the youngest of their six children. He attended a Public Elementary School in Portrush.

Golf career

Daly was first at Mahee Island Golf Club from 1931 before moving to Lurgan Golf Club in 1934, staying there until 1939. He started competing in domestic Irish events in 1936. He competed in the Irish Open, where he missed the cut, and two weeks later, winning the Ulster Professional Championship, beating

Ernie Patterson Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis (born c ...

in the final. At the end of the season he was selected to play for Ireland in their annual match against Scotland. He halved his foursomes match and lost in the singles but Ireland won the match convincingly. Daly represented Ireland in the

Triangular Professional Tournament The Triangular Professional Tournament was a professional team match play golf tournament that was played at the Cawder Golf Club from 21 to 23 October 1937. The tournament was contested between Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Scotland won the tourn ...

in 1937 and

Llandudno International Golf Trophy The Llandudno International Golf Trophy was a professional team match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in ...

in 1938. In early 1939 he moved to the City of Derry Golf Club. Later in 1939 Daly was runner-up in the Irish Professional Championship and fifth in the Irish Open, the leading Irish player. Domestic Irish events continued during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and Daly won both the Ulster Professional Championship and the Irish Professional Championship in 1940. In 1943 Daly was runner-up in the Irish Professional Championship behind Harry Bradshaw and he won the Ulster Championship again in 1941, 1943 and 1944. Daly moved from the City of Derry club to

Balmoral Golf Club Balmoral Golf Club is located on Lisburn Road, in south Belfast, three miles south of the city centre. It is an 18-hole course with a par of 69. The course was founded in 1914. The course is comparatively flat in nature and has a number of intent ...

at the start of 1944. Immediately the war was over, Daly embarked on his tournament professional career. In September 1945 he travelled to Scotland, for the

Daily Mail Tournament The Daily Mail Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the United Kingdom. The ''Daily Mail'' sponsored the St Andrews Tournament in 1919 and in 1920 continued their sponsorship with the start of the Daily Mail Tournament. The even ...

, played on the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

. Daly finished joint third behind

Charlie Ward Charlie Ward Jr. (born October 12, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player. Ward was an exceptional football player as well, winning the Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien Award, and College Football National Championship while quart ...

and could have been higher but for a 7 at the 14th hole of his final round. Daly played his first full season of tournament golf in 1946. The highlight of the season was winning the Irish Open at

Portmarnock Golf Club Portmarnock Golf Club is a links golf club in Portmarnock, County Dublin, Ireland, located close to Dublin Airport. The golf course is often rated as one of the top courses in the UK and Ireland and is also often included in lists of the top 10 ...

, where he finished four ahead of

Bobby Locke Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke (20 November 1917 – 9 March 1987) was a South African professional golfer. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won The Open Championship four times and 15 PGA Tour events in total ...

, becoming the first Irish winner. He was also fourth in the

Spalding Tournament The Spalding Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the United Kingdom. It was played annually from 1946 to 1960. The total prize money was £1500 in 1946, £1250 in 1947 and 1948, £1350 from 1949 to 1959 and £2250 in 1960. Th ...

on the Old Course, winner of the Ulster Professional Championship, tied for 8th in the

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

, winner of the Irish Professional Championship, quarter-finalist in the

News of the World Match Play The British PGA Matchplay Championship was a match play golf tournament that began in 1903 and ran until 1979. Between 1903 and 1969, the event was sponsored by the now defunct British newspaper the ''News of the World'', and was commonly known b ...

, tied for fifth in the

Dunlop Masters The Betfred British Masters is a professional golf tournament. It was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was held every year up to 2008, except for 1984. Dunlop's sponsorship ended in 1982, and the name sponsor changed frequently therea ...

and finished the season by winning the

Irish Dunlop Tournament The Irish Dunlop Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in Ireland until 1980. It was one of the top events on the professional circuit in Ireland. Prior to World War II, it was a 72-hole stroke play event known as the Dunlop-Irish ...

at the Castle Club in Dublin. 1947 was an exceptionally successful year for Daly. He became the first Irish winner of the

, the first Irish winner of the

and the first Irishman to play in the

. He was the first Irishman to win an important professional tournament in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. 1947 was a busy season on the British circuit with a number of new tournaments. Daly played in three events before the Open, finishing third in the

, tied for third in the

and tied for seventh in the Manchester Evening Chronicle Tournament. The

was held at

. After a first round 73, Daly scored 70, the best round of the day, to lead by four strokes. On the final morning Daly scored 78 and was in a four-way tie for the lead.

Reg Horne Reginald William Horne (19 July 1908 – 5 January 1984) was an English professional golfer whose most notable success came in winning the News of the World Match Play shortly after World War II had ended in 1945. Horne won other important e ...

set an early target, finishing on 294. Daly had played well on the back-9 until he took a double-bogey 6 at the 17th. Needing a par-4 at the last to tie with Horne, he holed a 10-yard putt to lead by one. The American amateur

Frank Stranahan Frank Richard Stranahan (August 5, 1922 – June 23, 2013) was an American sportsman. He had significant success in both amateur and professional golf. He was ranked number one in his weight class in powerlifting, from 1945 to 1954, and he became ...

came to the last hole needing an eagle-2 to tie Daly. He nearly holed his second shot and finished tied with Horne for second place. The following week Daly defended his Irish Open title. He led after two rounds but had a disappointing final day and finished tied for 4th place. Daly returned to competitive golf in September, qualifying as the Northern Ireland representative for the final stages of the

. Daly won his early matches comfortably and then beat Henry Cotton in the semi-final and

Flory Van Donck Flory Van Donck (23 June 1912 – 14 January 1992) was a Belgian professional golfer. Van Donck is widely regarded as the greatest ever Belgian golfer. During his career, he won more than fifty tournaments worldwide, including many of the mo ...

in the final to take the title. He was just the second player, after James Braid in 1905, to win the two most important British tournaments in the same year. Daly finished the British season by competing in the

, where he finished tied for 9th. The

1947 Ryder Cup The 7th Ryder Cup Matches were held November 1–2, 1947 at Portland Golf Club in Portland, Oregon, marking a resumption of the competition after a full decade. World War II forced cancellations from 1939 to 1945; the last competition was in 193 ...

was held in early November in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Daly was one of the first seven members of the British team announced by the selection committee in early September. The contest itself was very one-sided with the Americans winning 11–1. Daly was chosen for both the foursomes and singles but lost both matches heavily. 1948 was another successful season for Daly. He won three events, the

Dunlop-Southport Tournament The Southport Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the Southport area in North West England. It was founded in 1930 when it was sponsored by a Manchester newspaper, the ''Daily Dispatch''. From 1931 it was sponsored by Dunlop ...

, the

Penfold Tournament The Penfold Tournament was a golf tournament on the British PGA tournament circuit. Since the circuit later evolved into the European Tour, the tournament is recognised as an official European Tour event from 1972. It was played between 1932 and ...

and the

. He was runner-up in the

, behind Henry Cotton, and was also runner-up in the

R A Brand Tournament The Brand-Lochryn Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies nort ...

, the

Daily Telegraph Foursomes Tournament The Daily Telegraph Foursomes Tournament was a golf tournament played in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northw ...

and the

. 1949 was a less successful season, although Daly won the Manchester Evening Chronicle Tournament in June and was a runner-up in the

North British-Harrogate Tournament The North British-Harrogate Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. It was played annually from 1947 to 1952. Total prize money was £2100. From 1947 to 1949 there were two qualifying rounds on two c ...

in late-July. He was again selected for the

, played at

Ganton Golf Club Ganton Golf Club is an 18-hole golf course in Ganton, North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1891, the course was initially designed by Tom Chisholm and Robert Bird, but modifications to the course have been made since by a number of people inclu ...

in September. Britain won the foursomes matches 3–1, with Daly winning his match, but lost the singles 6–2 to lose a close match. Daly was in the last match in the singles, playing

Lloyd Mangrum Lloyd Eugene Mangrum (August 1, 1914 – November 17, 1973) was an American professional golfer. He was known for his smooth swing and his relaxed demeanour on the course, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Icicle." Early life and family Mangrum ...

. Daly was 1-up after 10 holes of the afternoon round but then lost the next five holes to lose 4&3, with Mangrum scoring 3-2-4-3-4. Daly was 8 under-4s for the 33 holes in a low scoring match. Daly won three more British tournaments, the

Lotus Tournament The Lotus Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and ...

in 1950 and the

Daks Tournament The Daks Tournament was an important professional golf tournament held in England from 1950 to 1971 and was generally held in early June. 17 of the 22 events were held at the Wentworth Club. Neil Coles enjoyed considerable success in the event wi ...

and the

in 1952. At the last-32 stage of the 1952 News of the World Match Play, Daly was involved in the longest sudden-death playoff recorded in a major British tournament, beating

Alan Poulton Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *Al ...

at the 12th extra hole with a long putt for a birdie 3, the match taking over 5 hours. After a quick meal, Daly had to play his last-16 match against a young

Peter Alliss Peter Alliss (28 February 1931 – 5 December 2020) was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Following the death of Henry Longhurst in 1978, he was regarded by many as the "Voice of g ...

, the match starting over two hours late. Daly reached the turn in 31 and beat Alliss 6&5 after an hour and 50 minutes. He continued his success in the Open, finishing 3rd in 1950, 4th in 1951 and 3rd in 1952. He played in the

1951 Ryder Cup The 9th Ryder Cup Matches were held November 2–4, 1951 at Course No. 2 of the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The United States team won their fifth consecutive competition by a score of 9 to 2 points. The two-day competition ...

Pinehurst, North Carolina Pinehurst is a village in Moore County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 13,124. It is home of the historic Pinehurst Resort, a Golf resort, which has hosted multiple United States Open Champion ...

in early November. The British again lost heavily in America, 9½–2½, although Daly halved his singles match against Clayton Heafner after being 3 down at lunch. In September 1953, Daly reached the semi-final of the

, losing to

Dai Rees David James Rees, (31 March 1913 – 15 November 1983) was one of the Britain's leading golfers either side of the Second World War. The winner of many prestigious tournaments in Britain, Europe and farther afield, Rees is best remembered as ...

. This, and his play in the trial matches, earned him a place in the

1953 Ryder Cup The 10th Ryder Cup Matches were held 2–3 October 1953 at Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England, west of London. The United States team won its sixth consecutive competition by a score of 6 to 5 points. Format The Ryder Cup is a mat ...

team at Wentworth. In the foursomes Daly and Harry Bradshaw were three up at lunch against

Walter Burkemo Walter E. Burkemo (October 9, 1918 – October 8, 1986) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the PGA Championship in 1953 PGA Championship, 1953. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Burkemo was the youngest of 13 children of N ...

and

Cary Middlecoff Emmett Cary Middlecoff (January 6, 1921 – September 1, 1998) was an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour from 1947 to 1961. His 39 Tour wins place him tied for tenth all-time, and he won three major championships. Middlecoff graduated as ...

but the Americans reduced the lead and Daly had to hole from 3 yards at the final hole to win the match. In his singles match against

Ted Kroll Ted J. Kroll (August 4, 1919 – April 23, 2002) was an American professional golfer. Kroll was born in New Hartford, New York. Kroll served in the United States Army during World War II and earned three Purple Hearts after being wounded four ti ...

, Daly was 6 up at lunch and eventually won 9&7 but the British team lost the match 6½–5½ after

and

Bernard Hunt Bernard John Hunt, MBE (2 February 1930 – 21 June 2013) was an English professional golfer. Hunt was born in Atherstone, Warwickshire. He turned professional in 1946 and was a leading player on the European circuit in the 1950s and 1960s. He ...

failed to win close matches. In 1955 Daly led by 6 strokes after three rounds of the five-round Dunlop Tournament at Wentworth. 36 holes were played on the final day. Daly scored 74 in the morning to retain a one shot lead from Eric Brown but took 77 in the afternoon to drop to third place behind

and Brown. Daly represented Ireland in the first two

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

matches that they contested, in 1954 and 1955, playing with Harry Bradshaw.

Christy O'Connor Snr Patrick Christopher "Christy" O'Connor (21 December 1924 – 14 May 2016) was an Irish professional golfer. He was one of the leading golfers on the British and Irish circuit from the mid-1950s. O'Connor won over 20 important British and Irish t ...

replaced him from 1956. He also represented the British Isles in the first two

Joy Cup The Joy Cup was an annual men's professional team golf competition between teams representing the British Isles and the Rest of Europe. It was played from 1954 to 1958. The British Isles won all four contests that were played. The trophy was provi ...

matches in 1954 and 1955. After reaching 50, Daly played in the Teacher's Seniors Championship at Harrogate in 1962 where he was runner-up, 2 strokes behind Sam King. In the late 1960s, previous Open champions were exempted from qualifying and Daly took the opportunity to play in the Open five times between 1970 and 1976, missing the cut each time.

Death

Daly died at his Belfast home of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

at age 79. He left a wife and two children.

Honours

Daly was awarded the

in the

1984 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1984 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

for services to golf.

Tournament wins (28)

Important wins (10)

Other wins (18)

*1936 Ulster Professional Championship *1940

Irish Professional Championship The Irish Professional Championship was an invitational professional snooker tournament for mostly Irish and Northern Irish snooker players. History The Irish Professional Championship was first staged in 1947 in Northern Ireland, and Jack ...

, Ulster Professional Championship *1941 Ulster Professional Championship *1943 Ulster Professional Championship *1944 Ulster Professional Championship *1946

, Ulster Professional Championship,

*1951 Ulster Professional Championship *1952

*1954

*1955 Ulster Professional Championship *1956 Ulster Professional Championship,

*1957 Ulster Professional Championship *1958 Ulster Professional Championship

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

''Note: Daly only played in The Open Championship.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

(representing Great Britain):

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

(representing Ireland):

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

* Ireland–Scotland Professional Match (representing Ireland): 1936 (winners) *

(representing Ireland): 1937 *

(representing Ireland): 1938 *

(representing the British Isles): 1954 (winners), 1955 (winners)

References

External links

Brief biography at Balmoral Golf Club siteDictionary of Ulster Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daly, Fred Male golfers from Northern Ireland Winners of men's major golf championships Ryder Cup competitors for Europe Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Portrush 1911 births 1990 deaths