O'Hair shows mettle with third victory
ESPNews Highlight Of The Night
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tiger Woods doesn't often wait around to extend congratulations to someone who just beat him, but that was the scene Sunday at the Quail Hollow Club, where the game's No. 1 player could not get it done while someone he vanquished in stunning fashion just five weeks ago did.
Sean O'Hair made a victory walk across the putting green with his 3-year-old daughter, Molly, with fans chanting his name, and there to greet him was Woods, who offered a hearty handshake and a hug.
O'Hair captured the Quail Hollow Championship despite bogeying the treacherous final two holes by a stroke over Bubba Watson and Lucas Glover and by 2 over Woods. It was the third victory of his PGA Tour career and continued an impressive year in which he now has six top-10 finishes.
But anyone aware of the Sean O'Hair story knows the long road he has traveled to this point. Both Woods and O'Hair had influential fathers, but the similarities end there. While Earl Woods is often credited with guiding his son to greatness, Marc O'Hair drove so hard that father and son have not spoken in years.
"He's had a lot of things to overcome," said Woods, who shot 72 to finish fourth. "He's grown up quite a bit. He's got a great family and I've been a huge fan of his. We're actually pretty good friends. We text all the time. ...
"He's got all the talent. We know that. We've seen how well he's played. He's just been through a lot off the golf course, and it's a matter of time before he settles in. He's got a great family and you can see now he's starting to gain confidence with what he's working on."
O'Hair is just 26, but he's been a pro for nearly 10 years, having started the pay-for-play grind right out of high school. His tale has been recounted several times, to the point where O'Hair no longer likes to speak about it directly.
To sum it up, O'Hair traveled the country with his father to various mini-tour events, Nationwide and PGA Tour qualifiers and would be punished for poor outings or performances. The situation got so bad that O'Hair has not spoken to his father since he was married in 2002.
"It feels like a lifetime ago, like a whole 'nother life," O'Hair said. "Mini-tour days, my wife [Jackie] and I have been through a lot. I remember being on the Gateway Tour in '04 and having $2,000 in our bank account and we didn't have enough money to play in any tournaments in the summer. It was basically we were playing for a meal ticket for the next week. It was actually that tough. We constantly talk about that stuff and reminisce.
"I think that's the stuff that makes this so sweet. It makes the hard work worth it, and it's just really nice to enjoy it with her, especially from where we came from. It's amazing, being 26, I have been through a lot of stuff in my life so far."
Quail Hollow Championship Leaderboard
1. O'Hair (-11)
T-2. Watson (-10)
T-2. Glover (-10)
4. Woods (-9)
T-5. Byrd (-8)
T-5. Mickelson (-8)
T-5. Petrovic (-8)
T-5. Purdy (-8)
T-5. Poulter (-8)
T-5. Dufner (-8)
• Complete scores
O'Hair, whose wife is expecting the couple's third child in June, shot a final-round 69 and has now joined some elite company. Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and O'Hair are the only players under 30 with at least three victories. O'Hair is the lone American in that group.
To win so soon after his defeat at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 29 was a huge boost. That day, O'Hair squandered a 5-shot lead to Woods, who then won with a birdie putt in the gloaming at Bay Hill.
Lost in the excitement of Woods' thrilling victory, his first since he returned from knee surgery, was O'Hair's disappointment. It took him about a week to feel like he was over it.
And then there was Woods, on the Monday prior to the Masters, giving him the needle.
"I was playing a practice round, and I saw Tiger, and he looked over and I kind of nodded, and he said something, and I'm like, 'That son of a b----,'" O'Hair said laughing. "No matter how friendly you are with him, he wants to slit your throat on the golf course, and I respect that. That's a true competitor."
And then O'Hair later added, with a chuckle: "The tough thing about him is, he's such a good ball-breaker. And I'm from Philly, I'm naturally a ball-breaker. He's just better than I am."
Woods didn't have the same magic this time, unable to pull off the necessary shots down the stretch. He moved within a shot of the lead when he birdied the eighth hole, then made 10 straight pars to finish his round.
It was particularly frustrating for Woods when he drove the green at the par-4 14th hole and 3-putted for a par, and then failed to birdie the par-5 15th.
After opening the tournament with a 65, Woods could manage just 2 under par for the remaining 54 holes. His game was extremely inconsistent, showing flashes of brilliance mixed with poor shots. For the week, Woods ranked tied for 45th in greens in regulation (46-of-72) and tied for 41st in fairways hit (25-of-56) while finishing 11th in putting.
Get all the latest news, highlights and commentary about the world's No. 1 golfer on ESPN.com. Tiger Tracker
On Sunday, he had a stretch in which he didn't hit the ball close enough, and then when he finally did, was unable to convert.
"It was one of those weird weeks," Woods said. "I just didn't feel comfortable with my swing."
O'Hair, meanwhile, was terrific from tee to green, continuing a trend in which he has missed just one cut this year with no other finishes outside of the top 25. He was tied for third in greens hit in regulation, and his final score of 11 under is even more remarkable when you consider that he did not hole a putt outside of 10 feet all week in 31 attempts.
"I struck the ball phenomenally this week," O'Hair said. "Yesterday was really nice. That was probably the best I've struck it ever. And today was pretty solid, especially coming down the stretch."
O'Hair tried to hone his putting stroke on the practice green while Glover completed his round. A bogey at the 17th dropped Glover a stroke behind, and when he wasn't able to birdie the 18th, O'Hair had his third career victory, a check for $1.17 million, a position of No. 12 in the Official World Ranking -- and a waiting embrace from Woods.
"Obviously it was cool that he came up and did that," O'Hair said. "He's just a really cool guy. A class act."
Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.
