David Facey, The Sun’s long-serving golf correspondent, has been made redundant as part of a wide-ranging shake up of the media company’s specialist sports coverage.
Facey’s contract was terminated at the end December as part as trio of redundancies in the The Sun’s sports department. Rugby union correspondent Jonny Fordham left at the end of November, while cricket correspondent John Etheridge is due to leave at the end of this month following the conclusion of The Ashes tour.
The outgoing staff were told the decision had been made by executives at parent company News Corp in New York, rather than The Sun’s management in the UK.
According to a report in the Press Gazette, all three journalists were let go because their sports didn’t generate enough online traffic, although a spokesperson for The Sun said: “We don’t comment on individual contracts, but like any business, we are constantly reassessing where to invest our resources and coverage to best serve our audiences, and restructure teams on that basis. Sport continues to receive big investment from The Sun.”
Facey’s final assignment was to cover the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai after which he was given ‘a terrific send off’ according to a tweet by Telegraph golf correspondent James Corrigan.
According to Corrigan, Facey told colleagues: “I have made so many great friends in my three decades covering golf. It’s just unfortunate none of them could be here today.”
Facey is a long-standing member of the Association of Golf Writers and currently sits on its members committee. He is also no stranger to winning golf tournaments, as well as covering them, with the Welshman counting the AGW’s 2018 Ron Moseley Trophy among his recent golfing successes.
