Exclusive: The story of an Irish golfing great we hardly knew — Johnny Farrell

Farrell’s Irish heritage is deeply rooted. His parents James Charles Farrell and Catherine Breen were from Borris-in-Ossory and Mountrath in Laois, before they eloped and emigrated to the United States in 1890.

Johnny Farrell, winner of the 1928 US Open at Olympia Fields in Chicago.

As Ireland prepares to induct Pádraig Harrington into the World Golf Hall of Fame - where he will join exceptional Irish legends such as Joe Carr and Christy O’Connor - another name with strong Irish connections has emerged from the golfing annals.

This Monday, Johnny Farrell will also be inducted into the new World Golf Hall of Fame at Pinehurst village, North Carolina, where a case can be made that a fourth Irishman will be celebrated at one of golf’s most prestigious gatherings. Born in New York in 1901, Farrell’s Irish heritage is deeply rooted.