Interview/Eoghan O'Connell: Paul Gallaghertalks to former Walker Cup player Eoghan O'Connell about his new life on the other side of the Atlantic
What would it take to entice an individual across enemy lines? In a sporting context think of the worst mercenary action possible. Surely trading the hypothetical blue of Dublin for a Kerry or Meath jersey would rank up there. So, too, would moving from the blue side of Glasgow to the green - or vice versa. Try this one for size: remember one of the great Irish hopes of the fairways, Eoghan O'Connell? The 1989 Britain and Ireland Walker Cup hero was at one stage in the reckoning to line out for the United States in the very same team competition.
O'Connell is a larger than life character and proud Cork native who has carved out a very nice living for himself and his family on the other side of the Atlantic ever since a wrist injury forced him into early retirement before he reached 30. O'Connell had entered the public psyche beyond these shores as a tall 19-year-old amateur who had qualified for the 1987 British Open Championship at Muirfield. He shot a course record 65 in qualifying at North Berwick then matched it the following day to book his place in the field.
Two years later he would play a pivotal role by halving his match against Phil Mickelson as Britain and Ireland won the 32nd Walker Cup for the first time on American soil. Everything in the garden looked rosy but within 10 years of that introduction to world golf at Muirfield the professional tour bag of O'Connell would be hung up for good, his problematic wrist injury could endure no more.
These days the 39-year-old is a successful businessman within the golf industry who owns and runs the The Fox Club in Palm City, Florida, where Darren Clarke designed the course. Not one to rest on his laurels he also set up Global Golf Links, a travel company which organises trips, mainly for Americans to Ireland and Scotland. He was also the primary contact in America for Chubby Chandler's International Sports Management company (ISM), who look after players such as Clarke, Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley among others. But now he only tends to the travel and logistical needs of Des Smyth as the Drogheda evergreen competes on the PGA Champions Tour in the States.
All this and the father of four, who was reinstated as an amateur years ago, still manages to play to a handicap of plus four. In getting to the crux of this particular yarn the notion only arrived by chance when chatting with another former Irish Walker Cup player, Noel Fox, who said: "If Eoghan keeps playing so well he'll qualify himself for this year's American Walker Cup team."
And that planted the seed to dig a little deeper and find out if this really could be the case. Even though technically possible, surely not. He couldn't, could he? "Having played a lot by my standards and played well last year, I got into a position that I could have at least put myself into the equation for the Walker Cup," said O'Connell in a matter of fact way.
"But I can tell you right now, even if it became the case (making the US Walker Cup team) I would never do that. Joking aside it is something that could have been done and I know the US captain over here pretty well," added O'Connell, referring to 54-year-old George "Buddy" Marucci, who himself was runner-up to Tiger Woods in the 1995 US Amateur.
"It's not something I'd ever consider doing. I mean, just imagine it, I play for the US team and then miss a three-footer on the last, people would think it was a fix! Yes, it would have been unique and there was a possibility at one point last year when I won quite a few events and was on the radar of qualification. But to be honest with you, it's not something I ever thought about. And besides, I would've been disowned by family and friends."
O'Connell first got a taste for life in the US when he attended Lake Forest University on a golf scholarship from 1986. "Back in my teens there weren't too many Irish players looking for scholarships in America. John McHenry had gone over and Philip Walton tried it for a brief time, but I didn't know many others. A scholarship in the States was a fairly new concept back then. With help from the likes of Duncan Quiligan, Roddy Carr and Ivan Morris it transpired Lake Forest suited me best.
"College golf was something I always wanted to do and was glad I did it. Afterwards I came back and lived in Malahide for almost six years," noting a time when he was starting out on a fledgling career in the paid ranks from 1990 onwards. O'Connell always showed a lot of promise, right from the early days when representing Ireland through all levels, but the truth is he never felt he achieved his full potential on the European Tour.
"Looking back I still had a very good run at it and played in over 110 tour events but if being honest with myself I never got to the level I wanted to. By 1995 I knew my playing days as a professional were coming to an end. I wasn't even playing well enough to make cuts and I was struggling with my wrist which got fairly bad that season. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and maybe I should have got a medical exemption but I played through it and I think I missed my last 12 cuts that year."
But just as a lifelong dream of a successful career as a professional golfer was about to crash and burn the ever positive O'Connell was able to see the upshot of the situation.
"The choices appeared simple for me at the time. By 1995 I was 28 and felt I still had the chance of starting out on another career as opposed to missing cuts and hanging on for dear life for another 10 years. That wasn't my idea of fun and it wasn't the reason I turned pro," noted O'Connell, who rightly or wrongly knew there was a problem with his wrist as far back as 1990 but the injury was never dealt with properly until it was too late.
"The wrist injury was twofold. One, it was over-practice but it was also to to do with my impact position when striking the golf ball. I tried to change it when I was 22 but regardless of what way I swung the club I always came back to the same place. Technically it was good but it put way too much pressure on my wrist. When David Leadbetter saw me when I was 19 or 20 he said if I didn't change my swing my wrist would pack in.
"Basically, I had a shut clubhead and used to hold it off forever. And the more I tried to stop doing it, the more my wrist would come back to the same position.
"Like I say, though, the injury probably helped me out in the long run because if the wrist stayed okay I might have lasted another couple of years struggling on tour. Leaving the game at 28 still gave me time to start something else and probably saved me three or four years. When the wrist finally went it made the decision to retire easier," added O'Connell, who felt the need to clear his head and work out the next step.
He got out of town as they say by leaving Ireland to return to the States for one last attempt at rebuilding his swing, safe in the knowledge some generous people had stuck by him with sponsorship through the lean times. But in that year he knew his professional playing days were firmly behind him for "he wasn't even close".
"You've just had your retirement, now you've gotta go and work," were the words from a prominent Irish businessman which struck a chord with O'Connell, who would marry his American wife and set up home in the States. O'Connell put his clubs away for several years, worked for different companies, including with Chandler, and now his primary focus is the Fox Club in Florida.
"I had some friends who wanted to get involved in a golf course so we put together a couple of investors and bought a golf course. That was three years ago, Darren redesigned the course, we turned it into a private members club, and now we have the US Amateur qualifying here this year."
O'Connell is also the founder and president of Global Golf Links which is a travel company he set up in 1999. "I organise trips mainly to Ireland and Scotland and that all came about when everybody kept asking me where I should go to play golf in Ireland. It seemed like a no-brainer," said O'Connell, who gets back to Ireland at least two, three times a year and recently took a group to Killarney.
Between these projects, looking after Smyth on the Champions Tour and spending time with his family it's a wonder O'Connell finds time to play golf.
"Even last year I wasn't dedicating a lot of time to practice and competing, I just got on a run and happened to play well. I really don't practice anymore, I don't have the time or the inclination - because of the wrist - and playing golf is no longer do or die for me," adds O'Connell who still took the opportunity to compete in this year's Irish Amateur Championship at Royal Dublin.
"I don't really know any of the young guys competing for Walker Cup places these days. I saw Rory McIlroy at Royal Dublin and I played with Nigel Edwards, one of the few guys I know from years ago. But the teams seem to get younger and younger and it's difficult to know who's who," said O'Connell who still reflects fondly on his time at the pinnacle of amateur team golf.
"In 1989 we won the Walker Cup by the narrowest of margins (12½-11½) at Peach Tree in Atlanta when I was young and bullet proof. I won my first two games then tied the next two. The final halve with Mickelson was a great experience. At one point the overall outcome looked as though it was all down to our match.
"I won 17 to go all-square and had a 20-footer for birdie at 18 while Mickelson had a 10-footer for par. I lipped out then he holed his before generously giving me the two-footer. It was the first time we had won in America. I knew most of the American team from the college scene so I even did another year at Wake Forest to get more time to wind the guys up! I got plenty of mileage out if it."
It's clear to see O'Connell is an individual who grabs life's opportunities and doesn't let the grass grow under his feet. He also knows what side of the fence he's on.
