Prodigal son back on course

THE MIGRATION of two professionals, resident in Florida, to Ireland's, ahem, summer climes hardly constitutes an exodus to these shores. However, while Nick Faldo can afford to pick and choose whatever event he'd like to play in Europe, Eoghan O'Connell is just mighty glad to get into any tournament.

An all-conquering amateur - who savoured Walker Cup Eisenhower Trophy and European Championship glory - O'Connell's promise was never quite fulfilled in the paid ranks. Nowadays, he spends his time playing on a Nicklaus mini-tour in West Palm Beach and his presence in Druids Glen for the Murphy's Irish Open comes courtesy of a rare invitation.

Yet, the dream lives on. In November, O'Connell will again seek to regain his European Tour card and, also, win his US Tour papers by putting himself through a golfer's worst nightmare, the respective qualifying schools for both circuits.

"In a perfect world, though," he says, "I'd win this week and gain a two- year exemption in Europe." O'Connell has always set his sights high.

He had his tour card, of course, for five years. Four of those years, he struggled, but held on grimly, like a drowning man, to his playing rights. In the fifth season, 1995, however, O'Connell sunk to 136th place on the European moneylist. He failed to win back his card at the subsequent tour qualifying school and missed out again last year. Consequently, the 29-year- old has spent the past two years in a sort of limbo.

"It's something I've had to deal with" he admits. "I never prepared to lose my card, but a lot of things went wrong. I had a problem with my wrist which was probably the main cause", and attempted to play through the 12 tournaments I had left to keep my card. I started hitting the ball sideways.

"Through the years when I'd had to keep my card, I had managed to do it. But I was just hitting it so badly in 1995 that I wasn't able to get around a golf course," remembers O'Connell.

The move to Florida has invigorated him, though. Indeed, as soon as the Irish Open finishes, O'Connell will be hopping on a plane and flying back across the Atlantic to compete in one of the Nicklaus tournaments, starting on Tuesday.

"We have 130 professionals playing for week. Competition wise, it's quite good, playing a good course each week with some decent players," he says.

So, the prodigal son is back on this emerald isle, looking tanned and relaxed, and he isn't willing to set low targets. "The golf course is playing quite tough, and you're definitely going to have to grind out a good score. You'll always get somebody who gets a little bit carried away, but nobody's going to hit all the fairways and all the greens," he predicts.

"Personally, I'd like to be in contention, hopefully, on Sunday. I would like to test myself, get up there and see how I react. However, I'm a lot stronger mentally now than I was, but I know I have to concentrate on what I am doing, as opposed to what is going on around me."

Each week, Connell sits in on the golf channel and watches his former tour companions in action. It is not something he particularly enjoys. He knows his rightful place is among his peers, not merely watching them. For O'Connell, this week's Irish Open represents a significant step.