O'Reilly goes to Berlin

"I WAS caddying for Peter Townsend at the time and this particular week he was playing a tournament in Berlin. Peter used to pay me in advance, so myself and a couple of other caddies set off from Dublin for Liverpool on the ferry. But they had Blackjack on the ferry, so I lost all my money, all my wages. So I had to get to Berlin and I didn't have a ha'penny. "So we get to Liverpool and I jump the train to Southampton. The ticket collectors are coming 'round, so there's this guy in the toilet so I knock on the door and your man sticks his ticket under the door. So now I have a ticket to Southampton (but your man in the toilet has nothing, ha!). "So we get to Southampton port and now I have to get on the ferry. One of the caddies goes on the ferry and says `I'm after forgetting something in my car', so they give him a pass to get off the ferry and he gives me the pass, so now I'm on the ferry. "So we get to the Hook of Holland and now we have to go on the train through East Berlin to get in to Berlin, so they put me in this golf bag up on the rack - I was up there for 14 hours. So the East German police come 'round to stamp the passports, so the caddie says to me `Johnny, they're coming'. I was up on the rack and I said nothing. "After they left I jump out of the bag, I get one of the caddie's tickets and I go after them and I says `you didn't stamp my passport', so he stamps my passport and that was it, I'd made it, I was in Berlin. Townsend did well too that weekend. It was grand."

O'Reilly goes to Cape Town

"Padraig's playing in South Africa, it's my first time there, and there's this fella called Jumbo, a local caddie, a massive fella. Anyway Jumbo took to me and he says `I'll look after you Master John' so I says, `right Jumbo'.

"So he brings us in to this pub one night, called the Hole in the Wall, and we were the only four white guys in there, but Jumbo was with me, standing behind me and he says `I'll look after you Johnny'. Even when I went to the toilet he went in with me.

"So we went a second night to the Hole in the Wall and there was Karaoke and they got me up to sing. So I get up and I say `you know this guy Nelson Mandela' and they're all cheering and clapping, `well, the song I'm going to sing now, I'll dedicate to him' and it was I did it my way. Well, for the rest of the week I never bought a drink. I'd walk in and they'd be `Hey, Irish Johnny, come over and have a drink'.

"So we're on the practice ground next day and Ernie Els comes up to me and he says, `Johnny, were you in the Hole in the Wall last night' and I says `I've been there the past three nights Ernie'. He says `Johnny, I wouldn't go within a thousand miles of that place' and I says `yeah, you wouldn't go there with your accent, I'm alright'. He walks off saying, `I don't believe you've been in there'. "Harrington was going `what's this Hole in the Wall', I think he was a bit worried. So I says `it's just a pub, Padraig'. Of course he sussed it out, didn't he? He says `Johnny, that's the most dangerous pub in Cape Town' and I says `yeah, I know but it's no problem, I have my minder with me'."

O'Reilly goes to South Carolina

"SO we're in Carolina for the World Cup and there were 45 deputy sheriffs' squad cars and all the players had a car each. So I rang up looking for a car and they said `who are you' and I said `Johnny O'Reilly' and they said `what are you' and I said `I'm the Irish coach'. So I had a squad car for the whole week - picked me up in the morning at the hotel, brought me home, picked me up again to bring me to the pub and brought me home again.

"We were staying about eight miles away from the course in Kiawah Island and all the other caddies were finding it hard to get lifts to get back to where they were staying - and I'd arrive in this deputy sheriff's car with all the Irish caddies in it. We'd be waving at everyone, like the Queen. We were saying `stop here, give him a lift'. And then, you see, caddies aren't allowed in the clubhouses in America, but of course I was the Irish coach so I got in. They'd say `I'm sorry but you can't come in here', and I'd say `but I'm the Irish coach' and they'd say 'Oh, sorry sir' and I'd be in.

"The caddies ended up calling me Johnny Leadbetter, after the golf coach, you know? So we were on the practise ground one day and Harrington was saying `why are they calling you Johnny Leadbetter' and I said `I don't know Padraig, I haven't a clue'. Of course McGinley told him - he said `he has a ****ing car going everywhere, he has them flying all over the place' and Padraig was shaking his head and laughing. Johnny Leadbetter! Ha!"