The first day Ricky Fowler popped in to say hello
By Joe McCann
A BANGOR barber has spoken of his delight after he spent last week cutting the hair of some of the world’s top golf stars during the British Open in Portrush.
Chris Palmer, who owns Outsider Male Grooming on Bingham Street, has been cutting the hair for professional golfers, their caddies and managers for several years when the tournament is on at various courses in the UK.
Speaking to the Spectator after this year’s event, Chris said he first got the opportunity to cut the hair of some golf’s best known stars after being recommended to cut the hair of the Northern Ireland Football Team.
”A few years ago, whenever Northern Ireland made it through to the Euros, I had cut the football team’s hair before going out there and I had also cut their hair for a number of years,” he explained.
“Whenever the Open first came to Northern Ireland, they had obviously done a bit of research through a company called CR2 Sports, a sports agent company. CR2 Sports approached me about working with them and whenever it first came to Portrush in 2019, they said that it was the first time any sort of major golf tournament had had a barber on site.
“When they approached me, I initially thought it was a joke, I thought it was somebody winding me up. It was too good to be true.
“The first time that I was there was kind of a trial run to see if it was worthwhile for the players having a barber there, and the feedback was brilliant. Thankfully every year since then, I’ve came back and cut hair during the tournament.”
Chris has since been on duty for the players at a number of famous golf courses including St Andrews and Troon.
The Bangor barber said that it can be a bit surreal, cutting the hair of such well-known athletes but said everyone in the sports’ hair that he has cut has been extremely down to earth and friendly.
“I cut a lot of people’s hair this year including players, caddies, managers and staff but I didn’t cut Rory McIlroy’s hair this year. I cut Darren Clarke’s hair, I also cut Ricky Fowler, Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau,” he said.
“You’re doing so many haircuts and I was flat out every day I was there, even up until until Sunday when I was due to leave at 4.30pm.”
Chris said that having been working at a number of tournaments, he had built up a rapport with some of the golfers and they would regularly chat about the sport but also life in general while he was cutting their hair.
“As I’ve been there for a few years now, you kind of get to know the guys,” he said. “When I first cut their hair, I would ask them questions about golf because I’m a big golfing fan and follow a lot of them. But in recent years its progressed onto just talking about life in general and I think a lot of the guys really appreciate that.
“They’re often flying from one tournament to the next, one after the other and it’s all focused on golf, golf, golf so I think they really do appreciate just being able to sit down for a bit and talk about something else.
“The first day Ricky Fowler actually popped in to say hello to me and ask me how the family were keeping. I have a son who’s three and a baby who is due any day now so we were chatting about family and he was saying congratulations. Every single one of these guys are so friendly and down to earth and welcoming.
“I do sometimes just think I am a barber from Bangor and I’ve gone from being in the shop to being here at the biggest sporting event in Northern Ireland cutting the hair of some of the biggest stars in that sport. It’s a weird contrast, but at the same time, it just feels normal as well.”
The Bangor man said the opportunity wouldn’t have been possible without the support from CR2 Sports, his business partner Craig and his wife who is nine months pregnant.
“I just wanted to say a big thanks to the guys at CR2 Sports Ltd who sorted everything out for me to come up there,” he said. “I just had to bring myself and my tools and my business partner Craig, who helped run our barbers in Bangor while I was away at The Open, and my wife who is due to give birth today.”
