John O'Leary

John Eudes O'Leary (19 August 1949 – 26 March 2020) was an Irish professional golfer who played on the European Tour through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976 he won his first European Tour event, the Greater Manchester Open, and in 1982 he became only the third Irishman to win the Irish Open. He played in a number of team competitions, representing Great Britain and Ireland in the 1975 Ryder Cup, and playing for Ireland three times in the World Cup.

After retiring as a tournament golfer he was an active administrator, being a director of the European Tour from 1985 to 2019 and being on the Ryder Cup committee.

Amateur career O'Leary was born in Dublin and joined Foxrock Golf Club, situated in the southern part of the city, as a junior member in the 1960s. In 1969, he was runner-up to Vincent Nevin in the Irish Amateur Close Championship and represented Ireland in the European Amateur Team Championship. In 1970, he won the South of Ireland Amateur Open Championship and was runner-up in the West of Ireland Amateur Open. The next week he finally won, winning the Holiday Inns Royal Swazi Sun Open, an official event on the South African Tour which was played in Swaziland. He shot 271 (−17) to defeat South Africans Dale Hayes and John Fourie by four shots.