John Huggan: Fun to defeat Faldo

Published on Saturday 13 March 2010 21:03

MOST DAYS, he heads out to the Carnoustie clubhouse around late morning. Which is easier said than done. As well as a right hand that has pretty well seized up, some slurring of his speech and a bit of double vision, the multiple sclerosis has affected both his right leg and, crucially as far as his golf was concerned, his balance. So he walks – not very far and not very fast without an occasional "wee rest" – with the aid of a stick.

When he does get to the club where he is one of four living honorary members (Arnold Palmer is another) David Greig has to walk past the impressive trophy cabinet, in which his own golf career is commemorated by as many as half a dozen medals of varying hues. He hasn't played for a while now, a fact that saddens him more than he typically lets on, but the now 60-year-old has much to be proud of. Scottish Boys champion in 1967 and Scottish Amateur champion eight years later – one of only seven men to achieve that particular double – Greig, his bag slung carelessly across his back, famously defeated an 18-year-old Nick Faldo in the top single when Scotland beat the Auld Enemy at Portmarnock in the 1975 Home Internationals.

"I played a lot with David when he was at his best in the mid-to-late 70s," recalls Monifieth's Ian Hutcheon, the 1973 Scottish champion and one of this country's finest-ever amateurs. "He had one of the best temperaments for golf I've ever seen. If I'd had a six-foot putt to save my life at that time, I'd have had him hit it for me. I had that much respect for him as a player.

"He and I played foursomes quite a few times for Angus and Scotland. And I never had a better partner."

Indeed, Greig was a formidable head-to-head competitor in his pomp, even when he wasn't working with a full set. Remarkably, he played most of 1975 with only 13 clubs in his bag.

"That was a great year for me, but it started in a funny way," he recalls with a smile. "I was playing my normal Sunday four-ball here at Carnoustie when I hit a poor 7-iron tee-shot to the eighth green. Six holes later, after a good drive at the 'Spectacles' I had what should have been another 7-iron for my second shot. But I couldn't hit it; I'd left the club on the eighth tee. I never did get it back and I went through that whole season without a 7-iron."

Such an outwardly carefree attitude to the game that has been his lifelong passion was typical of Greig. For him golf was important, but never everything. "David was a true amateur, an unassuming guy who never pushed himself forward," says former Walker Cup player George Macgregor. "In fact, you could argue he didn't do that enough. I'll never forget him beating Faldo while carrying his own bag. He never wanted any fuss and just got on with everything. There were never any airs and graces about him. He was a very popular guy. I always liked him."

It's hard to imagine similarly friendly sentiments emanating from Faldo in the wake of a match the future six-time major champion lost on the last green after being two up with four to play.

"It was a tight game most of the way," recalls Greig. "I remember losing the 11th hole to go one down. Then I lost the 14th to go two down. At the 15th he missed the green left in the famous "hully". I hit the green and won the hole with a par. I birdied the long 16th to win that too.

"I pulled my drive at the 17th and was just in the edge of the rough. And, wouldn't you know, I needed my 7-iron. So I hit a big 8-iron onto the edge of the green and got a half. At the last he was just over the back in two and I was maybe 12 yards away. I've never been so happy to leave a putt dead. He took three to get down and I had won.

"At the time, I had no idea how great he would become, of course. I knew he was good though. But back then he wasn't as good as Sandy Lyle, who was also in the English team."

It was, in fact, the potent combination of Lyle and Faldo – with whom Greig went to South Africa as part of the Great Britain side competing in the old Commonwealth Tournament – that convinced the Aberdeen University chemistry graduate that professional golf was not for him. "I just wasn't good enough," he says simply. "Watching Lyle and Faldo up close, I realised they were way better than me; it was chalk and cheese really.

"I have no regrets. Over the years I've seen so many really good players turn pro and make nothing of it. I always loved golf as an amateur sport. I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed it so much playing for my living. Amateur golf is serious enough while still being fun."

Sadly, of course, the fun stopped for Greig with the on-set of the illness that has already claimed his aunt and a cousin. It is almost four years since he last played 18 holes. Appropriately, his final round was over his home course. But despite all of the setbacks, he has retained an impish sense of humour.

"My worst episode came in 2007," he says with a straight face. "I was watching the last day of the Open in the club here. With about half an hour to go before the leaders teed off I decided to go home and watch it there. The next thing I know, my sister and her husband were shaking me and waking me up. It was Wednesday evening and I had been unconscious since Sunday afternoon. It was awful. But, luckily, someone at the club had taped the golf, so I got to see it later!"

Through it all, Greig remains remarkably upbeat. Which shouldn't come as a complete surprise. For a university graduate who spent his working life shifting furniture, a little has always been enough.

"After three years studying chemistry I didn't want to do it any more," he explains. "I knew I'd be looking out the window thinking I should be on the golf course. That's why I took the job I did. It gave me the money I needed to exist, play golf and have a couple of pints in the evening. Some may think that is parochial – I've been accused of that more than once – but I've always been happy in Carnoustie. I look out the window every day at the best course in the world. What could be better?"

What indeed? Sometimes, the simple pleasures really are the most fulfilling. And of that elementary truism, David Greig is living, breathing proof. Good golfer yes, but an even better man.