David Feherty reveals details of former daily drug use during golf career

A RETIRED golf star has revealed the incredible details of his daily drug use, including painkillers, cocaine and whiskey. So much whiskey.

GOLF fan favourite David Feherty has come clean on his incredible daily drug use during his playing career.

The five-time European PGA Tour tournament winner has revealed he was in a dark place with heavy drug use before he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

The 57-year-old Northern Irishman, who retired in 1997, has previously spoken about his drug use and self-medicating, but in an interview with Rolling Stone, he has finally detailed exactly how far he went off the rails.

When asked what his daily drug use looked like, Feherty said painkillers, alcohol, cocaine and marijuana were all part of his daily regimen.

“A typical day was 30-40 Vicodin and two and a half bottles of whiskey,” Feherty said.

“Real whiskey. Whiskey with an ‘e.’ There was cocaine, there was dope. When I think about it now I’m like, ‘Why am I alive?’”

He admits he cheated death.

There was the time he was playing the Swedish Open and he went for a quick drink.

He woke up the next day in Denmark.

There was the time in 1986 when celebrating his victory at the Scottish Open in Glasgow turned into a three-day bender.

He only remembers waking up without a trophy next to Led Zeppelin’s road manager on a putting green 240km away.

Oh, he’s also a thespian and writer.

“It seemed like a good idea,” he said.

“That was back when I was really just getting into not just golf and being successful, but the rush of performing in front of a bunch of people and applause and adulation.

“I got addicted to pain killers fairly early. You know, ‘comfortably numb’, as Pink Floyd put it.

“And that’s where I needed to be at the time. And I’m Northern Irish, so I remember the last physical I had with my doctor where alcohol became a problem. He looked at the numbers and said, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about getting help?’ And I said, ‘No, I can drink it all by myself.’”

He was still struggling with drug use years after his golf career finished.

Working as a golf television commentator Feherty admits he was still using regularly during the first years of his broadcasting gig.

Then golfing legend Tom Watson and his wife became his saviours.

“I was doing a TV thing in Canada with Jack Nicklaus and Tom,” he said.

“At one point, Tom just put his hand over the camera and said, ‘You’re not well, are you?’ and I said, ‘No, I’m not.’ I asked him how he knew, and he said, ‘I can see it in your eyes.’ And I said, ‘What do you see?’ and he said, ‘My reflection.’”

The most interesting man in golf.

“And I didn’t know that Tom had a problem at that point. Very few people did. He said, ‘You need to come with me when we’re done here.’ And I’m trying to back out; we’re on Prince Edward Island, and Tom’s [lives in] Kansas City, so I said, ‘How am I going to get to Kansas City?’ And I hear this voice behind me say, ‘I have a G5!’ So I’m getting heckled by Jack Nicklaus, who sent me there with his G5, and I went with Tom and he looked after me for two or three days and I’ve been sober ever since.

“But I would emphasise it has a great deal to do with my wife, as well. When I met her I was penniless, I had lost my damn [playing] privileges in the United States, I was homeless, I had a vehicle that was all I had, because I had been through this horrifying divorce.

“I was just a penniless, homeless, alcoholic drug addict and she looked at me and said, ‘Well, I can fix that.’

He’s been sober since 2005.

It was right after his stay with Watson that he was finally diagnosed.

“That was the first time I had seen a psychiatrist,” he said.

“And I went for about six of those [sessions] before I got properly diagnosed. I was like, ‘Oh shit, really? There’s a word for how I feel?’ It was quite a revelation to me.

“I was with CBS at that point, and let me see… I’ve been in the broadcasting industry for almost 20 years now.”

Not every day is easy.

He battles depression and has ongoing issues with insomnia.

“I get overwhelmed by sadness several times a day and spend a lot of time in tears,” he said.

“I now take 14 pills a day — antidepressants, mood stabilisers and amphetamines.

“The Adderall is enough to tear most people off the ceiling, but I can take a nap.”

That same honesty has made him a fan-favourite in America and it’s earned him a prominent position on NBC Sports’ plans to cover golf at next year’s Olympics in Brazil.

Originally published as David Feherty reveals details of former daily drug use during golf career