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 Ballybunion Golf Club in North Kerry on Saturday, adding to the long list of celebrities who have famously sampled the unique links course.
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.
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