Capelle On Golf

Despite his rather placid on course demeanor, Sean O’Hair is one interesting fellow.

The story of his tortured upbringing by his gung ho dad need not be retold again except to say that what didn’t kill him has evidently made him stronger.

A couple of years ago he boldly went for the pin at the island green 17th at Sawgrass in an attempt to overtake Phil Mickelson. His well struck 9 iron found the water over the green and he made a quadruple bogey seven, dropping from a tie for second to into a tie for 11th, costing him about $600,000. But O’Hair was not playing for the money, he was doing what he thought he needed to in order to win.

Back in March O’Hair wilted while playing in the final group with Tiger and threw away the Bay Hill, losing by one when Tiger holed his 16 footer in 18 as the sun set. It was the kind of collapse that ruins some players and causes other to age prematurely.

But not O’Hair, who has said that he wants to win 50 tournaments, a brash declaration for someone with two tour wins in better than four full seasons.  Well, he’s got three now, and if he averages that many a season for the next 16 years, he’ll get there. And if he does, at least four or five would likely be majors, possible cutting into Tiger’s take.

I know, this sounds ridiculous, but the guy has shown some resiliency, he is quietly driven, and his newly remodeled swing is a thing of beauty. Besides, somebody’s got to step up out of this horde of wannbe young challengers and dare to be great.

With his new swing O’Hair’s GIR average is up from 64.47% last year (113th) to 70.37% (5th on tour).  He won the Quail Hollow Championship (sounds good without the Wachovia) with his ball striking, averaging 75% on this major championship type layout versus the field’s average of 64.61%.

His excellent tee to green play made him far less reliant on his putting, which was difficult for the field thanks to the slick, undulating, and crusty greens. As I recall, the announcers said that he won without ever making a putt over 10 feet long!

But O’Hair’s fine play is nothing new as he’s been on a tear this season with five top tens (4t, 10t, 5t, 2, and 1st) in his 10 starts. With the 68 WGR points he earned this week, he’s moved to the 12th, just one good finish outside of the top 10.

O’Hair seems like a good guy, and I wish him well. But if he is going to haunt the leaderboards in the coming years, I hope he picks up the pace. Before he pulled the trigger on 17 I counted no less than eight practice swings, a habit that will not go unnoticed for long by the media, or by the PGA Tour’s timekeepers.