Dan O’Neill (He’ll Turn Pro Later) Has Penn State Pointing To Nationals

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State golf captain Dan O’Neill admits he and his teammates are looking past the rest of their schedule to the national championships.

The Nittany Lions qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament in Stillwater, Okla., June 20-23 by winning the 39th annual Eastern Intercollegiate Golf Association championships last weekend. It was the Lions third EIGA title and their eighth win since the tournament started in 1928.

“I know we have some matches left on the schedule, but we are all thinking about the nationals,” O’ Neil admits. “We would like to make the cut as a team at the nationals, but we will need super efforts from everybody.”

The Lion captain will be joined at the national tourney by junior John Krumrine, sophomore Fred Von Vargen and seniors Rex Ferguson and Harry Hamilton.

This will be O’Neill’s fourth appearance in the NCAA tourney. His top finish was 12th at Ohio State as a freshman in 1970.

O’Neill admits he felt some pressure in last weekend’s Eastern tournament.

A senior from Jamestown, N.Y., O’Neill fired an even par 72 over the 7.010-yard Penn State Blue Course on Sunday to overcome a three-stroke deficit and win his second straight EIGA individual title. His rounds of 76 and 72 led the Lions to the team title by nine strokes over Princeton (615-624).

“I definitely felt there was pressure on me,” the stocky blond-haired golfer says. “I was the defending champion. I had been playing well all spring and it was my home course. It’s much harder to win when everybody expects you to win.”

O’Neill trailed the leader by three strokes going into Sunday’s final round, but moved to a four stroke lead by going two under par after thirteen holes.

“I lost my concentration a little when I missed a little putt for a birdie on the 14th, but I really lost it on the 15th when one of my opponents waited five minutes for a putt to drop,” O’Neill says. “Then I missed a two-footer for a bogey.”

O’Neill also bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes to shave his lead over Lehigh’s Tom Sultser to one stroke. He birdied the 530-yard par five 18th hole with a strong drive, a four-iron and two putts for a two-stroke victory.

“You have a tendency to play the man closest to you instead of the golf course,” O’Neill says, but you shouldn’t let yourself do that. You have to play the course and concentrate on your own game.”

O’Neill lists winning back-to-back Eastern titles as one of his biggest thrills in golf, but it doesn’t quite match his experience last summer when he qualified for the U. S. Open and was one of only three amateurs to make the cut after 36 holes.

“When you stop and think that 4,500 golfers try to qualify for the Open and only 450 make it, then you know what an honor it is,” O’Neill says. “Making the cut was another great thrill.”

O’Neil could have a lot more thrills in his golfing future. He plans to turn pro in July and play on a Professional Golfers Association “mini-tour” in Delaware this summer. He will attend the PGA school in October in an attempt to get on the main tour next year.

“I’m going to give it a try,” O’Neill says. “I owe it to myself.”