— Sean O’Hair was in the clubhouse about 15-20 minutes earlier than the final players with an 11-under par final score. He bogeyed the last two holes to setup the suspense; otherwise he could have had a much easier time waiting for Bubba Watson and Lucas Glover to wrap up there rounds.
Tiger Woods got to the 18th with a longshot chance to tie O’Hair had he holed out his approach shot. That didn’t happen and Lucas Glover was left with the only realistic shot at tying O’Hair. He hit his second shot into the 18th and landed it in almost the exact same divot that O’Hair had just minutes before landed his that subsequently led to his bogey. Glover’s chip went long and his only chance to send the match to a playoff ended when his 3rd shot missed.
O’Hair started the day in a tie for 5th, but played well all day and got the win. The biggest movers of the day were Jonathan Byrd and Phil Mickelson. Mickelson fired a 5-under par, 67 that got him to 8-under on the tournament and that vaulted him into the lead for a bit and as the later tee times finished up, he landed in a tie for 5th. Byrd started the day tied for 37th and finished at 8-under as well and tied for 5th.
Missing from the leaderboard was Zach Johnson who started the day with the lead and blew up on the second hole with a triple bogey. His tee shot on 2 left him in the woods and his second shot bounced off a tree and then he three-putted. He finished four over on the day and 7 under for the championship (in an 11th place tie).
George McNeill also had difficulties on the day after starting in 2nd place and shooting a 3-over par 75 and that landed him in a tie for 18th.
Weather was supposed to have an adverse effect on things, but that never materialized and other than some gusty breezes, the day was beautiful.
As a closing note, it was great to see O’Hair win this one. His post win commentaries on the CBS telcast lasted all of 20 seconds as O’Hair isn’t exactly a talkative sort. As much as I hate to say it, there WILL be those that attribute his inability to celebrate the win with some colorful commentary to his abusive – one of the alltime overbearing nutjobs of a dad. That’s probably not what keeps him from talking much, but there will be those who question it. Sean still cannot escape the shadow. As much as booze, gambling and wasted talent will always define John Daly, being the golfer with that dad will always be Sean O’Hair’s tag.
Sean O’Hair is one of the nicest guys on tour by nearly everyone’s estimation – so maybe we can petition CBS’s announcers to stop bringing it up.
Congrats to Sean O’Hair, his wife and family.
That’s it from Quail Hollow!