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GolfBrief Staff
Compiled by the GolfBrief staff, and wire reports may have contributed to this story.
O'Hair lights up Bay Hill
- By GolfBrief Staff
- Published 03/15/2008
- Primary Cut
- Unrated
Sean O’Hair was pondering a trip to Sea World with his children
Saturday afternoon, this after a spotless round of morning golf has him
swimming with the big fishes once again on the PGA Tour.
Winner last week at the PODS Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., O’Hair glided around Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club with a bogey-free 63, the low round of the tournament. That lifted him from the ranks of also-ran to contender in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard in Orlando.
O’Hair began the day at 1-over-par 141 and 10 strokes behind Vijay Singh. When he holed out with a closing 30 on the inward nine, O'Hair had moved up from a tie for 49th to a tie for third and was three behind Singh, who hadn’t yet hit a ball.
O’Hair’s score was the lowest since Palmer converted the Champion Course to a par 70 last year. He had a chance to tie the course record shared by Andy Bean and Greg Norman, but he inexplicably left short a downhill putt for birdie at the 18th.
“That green is just a little slow than the rest and I didn’t adjust,” shrugged O’Hair, who eagled the par-5 12th hole for the second day in a row and added five birdies.
One was a chip-in from off the green at the 14th from 65 feet. O’Hair, 25, said there isn’t much thought that goes into a low round. Just hit and go.
“You can’t think about what you are shooting. You can’t think about what you want to shoot. You can’t think about anything but the next shot,” he said. “You are literally going one shot at a time and just allowing it to happen rather than trying to make something happen.”
Winner last week at the PODS Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., O’Hair glided around Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club with a bogey-free 63, the low round of the tournament. That lifted him from the ranks of also-ran to contender in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard in Orlando.
O’Hair began the day at 1-over-par 141 and 10 strokes behind Vijay Singh. When he holed out with a closing 30 on the inward nine, O'Hair had moved up from a tie for 49th to a tie for third and was three behind Singh, who hadn’t yet hit a ball.
O’Hair’s score was the lowest since Palmer converted the Champion Course to a par 70 last year. He had a chance to tie the course record shared by Andy Bean and Greg Norman, but he inexplicably left short a downhill putt for birdie at the 18th.
“That green is just a little slow than the rest and I didn’t adjust,” shrugged O’Hair, who eagled the par-5 12th hole for the second day in a row and added five birdies.
One was a chip-in from off the green at the 14th from 65 feet. O’Hair, 25, said there isn’t much thought that goes into a low round. Just hit and go.
“You can’t think about what you are shooting. You can’t think about what you want to shoot. You can’t think about anything but the next shot,” he said. “You are literally going one shot at a time and just allowing it to happen rather than trying to make something happen.”
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