grilled on camera, and remember: Nobody has ever accused
me of being real kind.” Knight had asked to be on “Feherty”
after watching an episode in which the host shot questions
at pro basketball great Bill Russell. (“So, Bill, you were left-handed and black? I mean those are two serious disadvantages on a golf course.”) Knight had laughed so hard that he
wanted to be part of the fun. And he was: At the end of the
powwow, Feherty gave Knight tips on his golf swing, and
Knight coached Feherty on the art of tossing a folding chair.
Golf World:
What’s the biggest secret
you can reveal about yourself?
feherty:
I’m unable to stop the wheel
in my head from spinning,
even if I drug the hamster.
Peter Larsen/GoLf ChanneL
How to explain this totally one-off character? The key may
lie in “gabbling,” the Irish word for what goes inside each of
our minds. Decades of alcoholism and clinical depression have
sheared a few gears off Feherty’s gabbling machine. “There’s
no order—it’s total anarchy in there,” he says. “Like most
depressives—or most who actually take their medication—the
treatment doesn’t make you feel good, just different.”
The vial Feherty keeps in his pants pocket harbors his
daily regimen of anti-depressants (Cymbalta), anti-psy-
chotics (Abilify, Klonopin), stimulants (Adderall, Vyvanse),
mood stabilizers (Lamictal), cholesterol (Lipitor) and blood
pressure meds (Avalide), and sleep aids (Ambien). “I don’t
like sleeping pills,” he allows. “I don’t like sleeping, period.”
His credo: You sleep for a long time when you’re dead. “I’m
hopelessly in the present, I don’t live one day at a time. I live
20 minutes at a time. I have no f------ clue what I’m doing
tomorrow.” Asked in what era he would have liked to play
golf, Feherty says the 1980s and ’90s. He quickly adds: “But
I’d like to remember them this time.”
It’s easy to forget how good a player Feherty was in his
prime—Feherty certainly has. During his 18 years as a tour
pro, he won five events in Europe and 10 worldwide. His first
victory came in a playoff at the 1986 Italian Open. After win-
ning that year’s Scottish Open—also in a playoff—he went
on a two-day binge that resulted in the disappearance of the
tournament trophy. It still hasn’t surfaced.
