I sold Beckham ‘horrendous’ golf gear before wedding – how ace calmed nerves

A GOLF pro has recalled how he helped David Beckham get in the swing for a happy marriage — despite selling him a “horrendous” windcheater on the morning of his Irish wedding.

Derek Morrison also lent the football superstar his clubs so he could calm his nerves with a round at Luttrellstown Castle before tying the know with Spice Girl Victoria.

Derek, said Becks, then 24, played with his best man and Manchester United teammate Gary Neville.

He added: “I saw a golf top he bought from the shop. I said to myself, ‘Who the hell is going to buy that?’ But he friggin bought it. It was a tartan windcheater, like a Scottish design.

“I remember saying to other guys in the shop ‘that’s horrendous looking’ — but he bought it.”

Derek, of Buncrana, Donegal, spoke to the Irish Sun as Posh and Becks prepare to celebrate the 25th anniversary this week of their glitzy nuptials at the 15th century estate on the outskirts of Dublin,

He remembered how he had only taken up the position of assistant professional at Luttrellstown Castle’s 18-hole championship golf course in the run-up to the Beckhams wedding.

And when United icon David decided to get in a few last-minute holes with his best man Neville ahead of the nuptials, Derek says it was his golf gear Becks had a ball with.

PGA professional Derek, who now helps run Foyle Golf Academy in Derry, said: “Beckham borrowed my clubs, I was using the old Callaway Big Berthas at the time.”

And he joked: “I don’t know if I can take the credit (for the successful marriage) but he had my golf clubs to play with!”

Posh and Becks made headlines around the world when they became husband and wife at the stunning castle in 1999.

Derek said: “I was an assistant pro in Luttrellstown.

“So they were going out to play, Gary Neville would have been there, and they needed golf clubs.

“He got a loan from the club professional at the time, the club professional at the time would have gathered some of the assistant pros clubs and given them to Gary Neville and David Beckham.”

Derek hailed Becks for being “down to earth”.

”No airs and graces’

He said: “He was a very normal person. There was no airs and graces about him. He came in and we just treated him as a normal human being.

“We weren’t bowing to him as he was coming through, you would serve him as best you could. That was our job.

“They had their day out on the golf course before the wedding, with his mates.

‘Kept very much hush, hush’

“It (the wedding) was kept very much hush, hush, it was very private, it’s a walled golf club so it was kept away from the media. They had OK! magazine behind the scenes.”

But Derek did take a pop at Becks’ club shop windcheater purchase, admitting he believed there was no way they’d have been able to shift it if the icon hadn’t bought it.

He said: “They were also in and around the shop. I met him (Beckham) in person in the shop, you had to stay obviously professional, I just served as if he was another person and that was it really.”