According to Dermot Gilleece, undertaking a journey to the venerated grounds of Augusta would practically require a stash of funds exceeding €10,000.
That financial reality did not stop Dermot Gilleece from orchestrating an improbable Masters ticket coup while recovering from heart bypass surgery in the autumn of 1996. Confined to a bed in the Blackrock Clinic, Gilleece decided to help an Irish reader secure tickets for his brother’s 40th birthday.
Gilleece pointed the reader, Liam O’Doherty, toward Charlie Yates, a long-time Augusta National member with ties to Irish golf. Having previously managed press communications for the Masters, Yates was recognized across Ireland as the talented American who defeated Cecil Ewing in the 1938 British Amateur Championship final at Royal Troon.
O’Doherty followed the unconventional roadmap and hit the jackpot. Through an invitation from Yates, he and his brother Joe attended the 1997 Masters—won by Tiger Woods—as personal guests, enjoying perks that included entry into the Butler Cabin.
The story anchors Gilleece’s new book, Stories from the Golfing Log: Tales of Triumph, Tragedy and the 19th Hole, published by Red Stripe and priced at €19.99. The material was compiled by Gilleece from his weekly column, Golfing Log, published in The Irish Times throughout his tenure as golf correspondent from 1981 to 2001 and as the publication’s golf editor between 2001 and 2002.
The book reaches beyond archives to update classic human connections, including the chapter titled Garth and The Bear. The section details Irish amateur Garth McGimpsey playing two Masters tournaments after winning the Amateur Championship at Royal Dornoch in 1985.
McGimpsey secured a practice round with Jack Nicklaus during the year when The Bear won a sixth Masters title in 1986, thanks to his father Hal writing to Nicklaus ahead of time. Weeks after returning home from Augusta, McGimpsey received a surprise in the mail.
Despite all the pressures and excitement of Jack’s historic win, he still found the time to write to me. Attached to a very warm letter which told me how much he had enjoyed my company was an enclosed cheque for four dollars, with a note expressing the hope that it wouldn’t affect my amateur status.
McGimpsey recalled receiving the note, which bore the handwritten inscription “for getting beat at Augusta National.” The framed cheque remains preserved.
Members of Royal Dublin Golf Club who are also featured by Gilleece include Joe and Matt Kelly, twin brothers and priests currently in their nineties. Following the duo’s commemoration of seven decades in the priesthood earlier this year, Gilleece reached out to Golf Ireland, which arranged for bespoke silver medals to be struck and awarded in recognition of their decades-long contributions to the sport.
“I’m more and more conscious of keeping the brain active,” Gilleece explained regarding his writing, which includes earlier titles such as Farewell to the Fairways and Chasing Ladybirds.
