Irish golf mourns the late Joe Carr

Irish golf is in mourning following the death of the legendary Joe Carr.

One of the greatest amateur golfers of all time, he died after a short illness in Dublin. He was 82.

The winner of 40 championships in his career, Carr was the first Irishman to captain the Royal and Ancient from 1991-92.

He had planned to attend the 250th anniversary celebrations of the R and A this weekend but decided against travelling because it would be too much of a strain.

Suffering from a recurrent ilness, he took ill earlier this week and died peacfully at the Mater Hosptial yesterday.

Christy O’Connor Jnr, whose uncle Christy O’Connor was a contemporary of Carr’s, paid tribute to “an ambassador for Irish golf around the world.”

He said: “I knew him well. He was a wonderful player. He was one of the greatest amateur golfers that ever stood and he did so much for Irish amateur golf.

“He will be sadly missed . He was a great ambassador for Irish golf and in my opniinion he could have played in the professional ranks at any standard.”

An Irish international from 1946 to 1969, Carr won the British Amateur championship THREE times in a glittering career as well as FOUR Irish Amateur Opens, 12 East of Ireland titles, 12 Wests and 3 South of Irelands.

A member of the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team on 11 occasions - a record TEN times as a player - he was non-playing captain when GB and I tied with the US for the first time at Baltimore in 1965.

He was the first Irishman to play in the Masters Tournament at Augusta and made three appearances in a row from 1967 to 1969.

A superb ball striker, Carr made the cut on his first two appearances but failed to qualify on his last appearance there.

Probably his greatest honour came in 1961 when he was awarded the Bobby Jones Award for sporstmanship in golf by the United States Golf Association.

Former Ryder Cup player Peter Alliss described him as the best amateur on this side of Atlantic after World War II until the arrival of Michael Bonnallack. 

A firce competitior, in 1959 he came close to winning the Dunlop Masters at Portmarnock from the professionals. Four ahead after three rounds, he finished second as Christy o’Connor finished with a 66.

Revered throughout Ireland, Sutton player Carr was made an honorary member of over 60 clubs and played off an handicap of 8 when he was well into his 70s.

His father was secretary-manager at Portmarnock and having taken up the game at and early age, he was down to scratch at 14 and a plus one handicapper at 17.

At one time he was considered the best amateur golfer in the world and was an honorary member of Augusta. 

He claims that his greatest moment in golf came when his son, Roddy, successfully competed in the 1971 Walker Cup.

Carr picked the occasion to retire from competitive golf, ending a career spanning 49 years. May he Rest in Peace.