Middle- and long-distance runners are not the only Irish athletes being recruited by American colleges.
Eoghan (pronounced Owen) O`Connell, an 18-year-old golfer from Killarney who has represented Ireland in several international amateur team
competitions, will enter Wake Forest University this fall and may become the first non-American to hold an Arnold Palmer Scholarship.
Jesse Haddock, the golf coach at Wake Forest since 1960, recruited O`Connell, whom he has never seen play. In April, in a trans-Atlantic telephone call, he persuaded O`Connell to come to the school in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Irish youngster, who will major in economics, had also been considering Oklahoma State and West Florida University.
”O`Connell is the first non-American I`ve recruited here,” said Haddock.