Retired NFL superstar Tom Brady returns to Ireland for the first time in over 20 years, tracing family roots and hitting the fairways in Kerry
The New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers star played a round at the famous and prestigious Ballybunion Golf Club in North Kerry on Saturday, adding to the long list of celebrities who have famously sampled the unique links course.
John Eggleston, General Manager of Ballybunion Golf Club, told The Kerryman that Brady’s decision to choose Ballybunion is another ‘huge feather’ in the cap for the famous course.
“The trip had been arranged in advance. He flew down from Dublin at roughly 5.30am on Saturday and then got here for 6.30am before they teed off at 7am,” John said.
“He was blown away by the course. He just really thought that it was amazing and that it was in great condition,” John added.
John also revealed that the NFL’s GOAT (Greatest of All Time) found himself on the receiving end of some Kerry banter.
“He got a lovely sunny day for it as well and he got a good kick out of the caddies being out in shorts and they were giving him some stick that he was used to the heat in Miami and he must have been feeling the cold because he was playing in pants,” John said.
“He only played five courses here: two up in Northern Ireland, Portmarnock, Adare and then Ballybunion, so it’s great company for us to be in,” John said.
Brady is arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, and was in Ireland to golf and reconnect with his ancestral home.
Brady’s great great grandfather, John Brady, left Ireland during the famine of the mid-1800s, arriving in Boston where he found work as a labourer.
The now retired star QB appeared on The Late Late Show on Friday where he talked about his first visit to Ireland in over 20 years, and his Irish ancestry.
After playing the Ballybunion course, a message on the Ballybunion Golf Club social media page wrote, ‘After his appearance on last night’s RTÉ’s Late Late show Tom Brady arrived in Ballybunion this morning to visit our magnificent links!’.
NFL star quarterback at Ballybunion Golf Course on Saturday.
Brady, who has since taken up broadcasting with Fox NFL after retiring, took time out to meet with staff and visitors at Ballybunion Golf Club when signing autographs and posing for photos.
Of course, Brady is not the first Hall of Fame NFL player with a link to Ballybunion. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl winner in 2003, John Lynch, is a regular visitor to the seaside town.
Lynch’s great grandfather hails from Ballybunion, from where he emigrated to Chicago in the early 1900s. John Lynch is also the current General Manager of the San Francisco 49ers.
During Brady’s Late Late appearance, he said he is ‘50 percent [Irish] but trending’.
“The more visits I take here, the more Irish I’m becoming,” he told show host Patrick Kielty.
“This has been an awesome trip. I was here 22 years ago with my Dad for a Father-Son golf trip, and I haven’t been back since. Coming back and bringing all the good weather from the States, I’m going to bring more of that when I come,” he added.
Tom Brady’s historic round of the internationally famous links course in Ballybunion quickly took off online with a swell of interest.
One message said of the visit: “Tom Brady, one of the most famous athletes in the world, pitched up at Ballybunion today – a village home to just 1,600 people in southwest Ireland. Why? To play golf in the sand dunes. Links golf is unmatched.”
Brady with Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty on Friday night.
Brady was born in San Mateo, California, in 1977 and was, astonishingly, drafted as the 199th overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft to the Patriots. In New England, he won six championships: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
In a shock move to Tampa Bay in 2020, Brady won a championship in 2021 with the Buccaneers – a championships that many believe cemented his place as the greatest QB of all time.
He was also named the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) five times.
