First tee drama for David Brady: “My dad greeted me with a two shot penalty!”

Sligo native David Brady managed to avoid any awkward dinner table scenario after he edged into the top-64 at the Connolly Motors West of Ireland Championship despite being bizarrely handed a two-shot penalty on the first tee by none other than his own father.

The clocks don’t go forward until Sunday night, but the Straffan member fell foul to a Rory McIlroy-esque timekeeping howler ahead of his second round in County Sligo Golf Club.

Warming up on the driving range, which is by the fifth hole in Rosses Point and does require transport to get in and out of, Brady was shocked to get a phone call from a playing partner saying his tee time was next. He dashed up the road and upon his arrival to the first tee, he was welcomed with a two-shot penalty for being late by the on tee starter, his father!

“Had a mishap this morning, I arrived down at the range in Balmore thinking I had an hour and fifteen minutes to go, plenty of time to get loads of chips and putts done, turned out I only had fifteen minutes. Got the call thankfully the phone wasn’t on silent,” explained Brady who is T46 on ten-over after rounds of 73 and 79.

“Someone on the putting green said I had fifteen minutes and I never drove so fast from the range before in my life, thankfully there was nobody hitting off 5 at the time. ”

The penalty cost Brady a triple bogey seven, but he gathered himself to par the next and birdie the third and he managed to do enough throughout the round to qualify for the last-64 and the matchplay stages.

“I didn’t miss the tee time but I was late and my dad was the starter and he greeted me with a two shot penalty to start my round so that was great! Thankfully I went OK, playing partners made a joke about it going down the first few holes so I eased into it. I parred the second and birdied 3 so that levelled me out a bit more.

“If I missed it by one or two there wouldn’t be many words spoken! I think the lads making a joke of it helped. I was trying to comprehend how I did it, the clocks don’t go back until tomorrow.”