Former Pro Golfer and PGA Announcer to Keynote at FABTECH 2023
A Nasty Bit of Rough with David Feherty
Former Professional Golfer, NBC Sports Golf Analyst, PGA Announcer and Host of Feherty, David Feherty will be the keynote speaker on Tuesday, September 12 at this year’s event in Chicago. David will be bringing his sharp wit and colorful personality to FABTECH to share great life stories and behind-the-scenes moments from life on the PGA Tour.
David Feherty was born in the seaside town of Bangor in Northern Ireland. He grew up with aspirations to become an opera singer, until he discovered he had the knack for hitting a golf ball. He jokes about his career change, “I was always interested in music from a very early age. But when I turned pro at age 17, I haven’t sung a note since. Now, I only sing to punish my children.”
David enjoyed a successful professional career, with 10 victories worldwide and over $3 million in prize money. He was a regular on the European Tour, with victories including the ICL International, the Italian Open, Scottish Open, South Africa PGA, BMW Open, Cannes Open, and Madrid Open. He captained the winning Irish team in the 1990 Alfred Dunhill Cup and played on the European Ryder Cup Team in 1991, an experience that rejuvenated his fervor for golf.
In 1997, David retired from professional golf when offered a position as a golf commentator for CBS Sports. “I always enjoyed talking more than playing, and now CBS and the Golf Channel are paying me for what I like to do most.” Thanks to his sharp wit and colorful personality, David has become golf’s favorite announcer.
In 2011, the Golf Channel aired 18 episodes of Feherty— its most popular program. No topic was off limits in this original series that shares revealing interviews with well-known personalities from sports and entertainment, including President Clinton, Donald Trump, Samuel L. Jackson and Bill Russell among others. As one critic observed, “Feherty is like the man: brutally honest, funny, maddeningly scattered.”
For David, his most fulfilling activities are on behalf of badly injured U.S. troops. Through his Troops First Foundation, David stages events for wounded Special Forces, Green Berets and other U.S. heroes involving golf, hunting, bicycling and skiing. “Losing a limb, or the ability to use a limb, is one thing,” David says. “But the dignity they lose with it is perhaps even more important. And to be able to give them some of that dignity back is my mission with these days. It’s not a charity. It’s just us trying to pay back a very small part of the check that we owe them.”
Most recently, David joined the LIV Golf broadcast team to serve as an on-air commentator and co-executive producer of LIV Golf Event Coverage. David is one of the most influential and recognized voices in golf for more than two decades and is known for delivering insight and humor to audiences around the globe.
Feherty will speak on Tuesday morning September 12 at 8:30 AM in the FABTECH Theater located in the Lakeside Center Ballroom. The session is free and open to all attendees. Preview the complete lineup of special events planned for FABTECH 2023.
