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Eamonn Darcy

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For the Irish footballer, see Eamonn Darcy (footballer).

Eamonn Darcy
Darcy at the 2010 Dutch Senior Open
Personal information
Full nameEamonn Christopher Darcy
Born (1952-08-07) 7 August 1952 (age 72)
Delgany, County Wicklow, Ireland
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Sporting nationality Ireland
ResidenceEnniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland
Children2
Career
Turned professional1968
Current tour(s)European Seniors Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
Professional wins16
Highest ranking57 (4 August 1991)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour4
PGA Tour of Australasia2
Other10
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipT5: 1991

Eamonn Christopher Darcy (born 7 August 1952) is an Irish professional golfer. He won four times on the European Tour and played in the Ryder Cup four times.

Professional career

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Darcy, with a handicap of 12, turned professional at the age of 16, becoming an assistant at Grange Golf Club in Dublin. The following year he moved to Erewash Valley Golf Club in Derbyshire, staying until 1979.[2]

Darcy's tournament career coincided with the start of the European Tour in 1972. He first came to notice in 1974 when he was a joint runner-up in the Nigerian Open.[3] In Europe he was tied for third place in the Portuguese Open and tied sixth in the Dunlop Masters, finishing 36th in the Order of Merit.

Darcy finished third on the Order of Merit in 1975 and made that year's Ryder Cup team, his first of four performances. The following year he was second on the Order of Merit, only behind Ballesteros. Despite a number of great performances, however, Darcy did not win either season. This became something of a trend as Darcy only posted four European Tour wins compared to 13 runner-ups.[4] This was punctuated by his tough-luck playoff record of 0–4.

Darcy's first European Tour win was at the Greater Manchester Open in 1977, handily defeating a trio of British golfers by 8 shots.[4] In the off-season, Darcy would often play on the Australian Tour with much success, winning the 1980 Air New Zealand Shell Open and the 1981 West Lakes Classic. He would also finish runner-up at the 1980 New Zealand Open.

Darcy was a consistent performer on the European Tour in the 1980s, finishing in the top 30 of the Order of Merit eight times. He won the 1983 Benson & Hedges Spanish Open and 1987 Volvo Belgian Open, shooting a final round 64 to defeat Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam down the stretch. However, his greatest moment may have come at the historic 1987 Ryder Cup. In his last Ryder Cup match, he defeated American Ben Crenshaw on the last hole to secure an individual win and the team's 13th point. His performance was indispensable as it ultimately determined an outright win. (Europe would win by the score 15–13.) His victory was especially memorably because he had an extremely poor Ryder Cup record (0–8–2) entering the match. It was his only Ryder Cup win as an individual (or as a member of team).

Darcy's career began to wind down in the 1990s. He recorded his final official victory at the 1990 Emirates Airlines Desert Classic. The following year, he contended for a major championship for the first time at the 1991 Open Championship. He entered the final round just one shot out of the lead. He could not keep up with the rest of the leaders but his even-par 70 was good enough for T-5, his best finish ever in a major. Though he still kept his card through the decade, 1991 was the last season he was in the top-50 of the Order of Merit. In 2002 he joined the European Seniors Tour.

Darcy was noted for having one of golf's strangest swings.[5]

Professional wins (16)

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European Tour wins (4)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 19 Jun 1977 Greater Manchester Open −11 (69-67-66-67=269) 8 strokes Scotland Brian Barnes, Scotland Ken Brown,
England John Morgan
2 23 Oct 1983 Benson & Hedges Spanish Open −11 (67-71-67-72=277) 1 stroke Spain Manuel Piñero
3 20 Jun 1987 Volvo Belgian Open −13 (69-67-64=200)* 1 stroke England Nick Faldo, Northern Ireland Ronan Rafferty,
Wales Ian Woosnam
4 25 Feb 1990 Emirates Airlines Desert Classic −12 (64-68-75-69=276) 4 strokes Northern Ireland David Feherty

*Note: The 1987 Volvo Belgian Open was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.

European Tour playoff record (0–4)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1976 Penfold PGA Championship England Neil Coles, South Africa Gary Player Coles won with par on third extra hole
Player eliminated by par on first hole
2 1982 Jersey Open Scotland Bernard Gallacher, Republic of Ireland Des Smyth Gallacher won with par on fifth extra hole
Darcy eliminated by birdie on second hole
3 1983 State Express Classic South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, United States Mike Sullivan Baiocchi won with birdie on first extra hole
4 1991 Murphy's Cup Zimbabwe Tony Johnstone Lost to eagle on second extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 30 Nov 1980 Air New Zealand Shell Open −12 (68-62-70-68=268) 2 strokes United States Lanny Wadkins
2 25 Oct 1981 CBA West Lakes Classic −7 (68-71-72-74=285) Playoff Scotland Sam Torrance

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1981 CBA West Lakes Classic Scotland Sam Torrance Won with birdie on first extra hole

Safari Circuit wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 22 Mar 1981 Cock of the North −11 (72-68-73-68=281) 1 stroke England Carl Mason
2 14 Mar 1982 Benson & Hedges Kenya Open −10 (72-65-67-70=274) 1 stroke England David Jagger
3 18 Mar 1984 Mufulira Open −13 (68-69-70-72=279) 1 stroke England Roger Chapman, England Tommy Horton

Other wins (7)

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Playoff record

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Champions Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2003 Farmers Charity Classic United States Doug Tewell Lost to birdie on third extra hole

European Senior Tour playoff record (0–3)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2002 Estoril Seniors Tour Championship England Denis Durnian Lost after concession on first extra hole
2 2005 Nokia 9300 Italian Seniors Open France Géry Watine Lost to birdie on first extra hole
3 2009 Son Gual Mallorca Senior Open England Mark James Lost to birdie on third extra hole

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Open Championship CUT T15 T34 CUT CUT
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Open Championship T45 T14 T35 T26 CUT T11 T59 T17 CUT CUT
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
The Open Championship T22 T5 T33

Note: Darcy only played in The Open Championship.

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1975 and 1984 Open Championships)
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 31 1991 Ending 4 Aug 1991" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  2. ^ "I'd wanted to be a jockey... but golf came to the fore!". Irish Independent. 24 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Newton wins Nigerian Open". The Herald. Glasgow. 25 February 1974. p. 5.
  4. ^ a b "Eamonn Darcy". European Tour. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  5. ^ Mell, Randall (24 October 2012). "A history of golf's strange swings". Golf Channel. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  6. ^ "The Glasgow Herald – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
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