Thursday, July 24, 2014

Fiercely Competitive, Refreshingly Candid Lanny Wadkins Guests on the Next Episode of Feherty

Episode Airs July 28 at 9 p.m. on Golf Channel

(ORLANDO, Fla.) – When David Feherty moved to the United States from his native Northern Ireland in 1993, Lanny Wadkins was the first to greet him and help him settle in to this new country. More than two decades later, the Hall-of-Famer and the Emmy Award-nominated host get together at one of their favorite Dallas restaurants to discuss Wadkins’ career on the next episode of Feherty, airing Monday at 9 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.

Wadkins’ stories are as diverse as winning money from Ben Hogan to a close encounter with a naked Mickey Mantle in a clubhouse dining room. As a cocky kid out of Wake Forest University, he ruffled many feathers in those early days with bold predictions that he went on to exceed with a record-setting, Rookie-of-the-Year campaign.

Other topics covered in the interview include Wadkins’ stellar Ryder Cup career – he is one of the U.S. team’s all-time highest points earner – which included contentious matches with Seve Ballesteros, a pair of matches against Feherty during the famous “War by the Shore” at Kiawah, and one of the greatest shots in Ryder Cup history when he secured a victory in 1983. When that wedge shot landed just feet from the cup – as a bolt of lightning struck in the background – it inspired Jack Nicklaus to literally kiss Wadkins’ divot.

Wadkins’ gives his unvarnished opinions about everything from modern players’ use of social media and the state of the game to his ambivalent emotions in regard to his induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, something that many of his contemporaries felt was overdue.

Season four of Feherty will continue Aug. 18, with Feherty’s fascinating conversation with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Future scheduled episodes include college football coaching legend Lou Holtz and affable golfer Sam Torrance, among others.

Feherty originally debuted in June 2011 as the most-watched original series in Golf Channel history. David Feherty, Emmy nominated this year for Outstanding Sports Personality, has gone one-on-one with celebrities across golf, sports and entertainment, including former President Bill Clinton, basketball Hall-of-Famers Bill Russell and Charles Barkley, actors Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson, and golfers Tom Watson and Greg Norman.

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