Sean O'Hair

O'Hair ended the year 58th on the FedEx Cup list.

At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, O'Hair entered the final round with a five stroke lead but lost by one stroke to Tiger Woods as Woods birdied the 72nd hole to win the tournament for the second year in a row.

O'Hair made just over $2million on the season and finished 75th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Sean M. O'Hair (born July 11, 1982) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.

O'Hair was born in Lubbock, Texas.

Rather than play college golf, O'Hair turned professional in 1999 after his junior year at high school at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, Arizona, under the direction of his father, Marc O'Hair, who sold his share of the family shutter business in Lubbock for $2.75 million to develop Sean into a touring pro.

The elder O'Hair moved the family to Florida and enrolled Sean in the David Leadbetter Golf Academy.

O'Hair entered PGA Tour Qualifying school regularly from 1999, but was unsuccessful at his first five attempts.

He played on various developmental tours: the PGA Tour's Nationwide Tour, the next-level Gateway Tour, and the Cleveland Golf Pro Tour.

He had limited success, making the cut in only four out of 18 starts at Nationwide Tour level.

Sean broke free in 2002 and has not spoken to his father since a perfunctory greeting at Sean's wedding more than two years ago.

After he established himself as the front-runner for Rookie of the Year distinction with his strong finish at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and victory at the John Deere Classic, his estranged relationship with his father, already highlighted on a 2002 episode of 60 Minutes, became well-publicized.

It was also profiled by Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly.

In 2004, O'Hair made it through all three stages of PGA Tour Qualifying School.

A featured article by Steve Elling in the January 21, 2005 Golf World alleged:

Marc O'Hair, 52, signed management contracts with his son, says he invested $2 million in his boy's professional future and subjected Sean to a physical and psychological regimen that would make most drill sergeants blush.

His 2005 season was a dramatic success.

He won his maiden PGA Tour event at the John Deere Classic and finished second at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

He made 24 of 28 cuts for the season and finished with earnings of $2,461,482.

He also won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors of the 2005 season.

In March 2006, O'Hair was the youngest man in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings but his 2006 season was less successful.

O'Hair made 20 of 30 cuts and only made half the amount of prize money he had earned in his maiden year on tour.

He dropped out of the top 50—finishing no higher than fourth at the Buick Open in Michigan—but returned to the list with a third place at the Canadian Open.

He did however produce some solid play at the major championships, finishing in the top-15 at The Open Championship and the PGA Championship.

He also finished at +13, tied for 26th, at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

The seventh place was his best finish on the PGA Tour since the 2006 Canadian Open.

In 2007, caddied by his father-in-law Steve Lucas, O'Hair recorded his first top-10 of the year, a tie for seventh, at the Verizon Heritage.

His second-round 66 matched his low round for the season.

On May 12, 2007, at The Players Championship at the TPC at Sawgrass, O'Hair led Phil Mickelson by a stroke after the 3rd round.

On March 9, 2008, O'Hair came from three strokes back (behind Stewart Cink) to win the PODS Championship by two strokes from six other players at Innisbrook with a final score of 4-under-par.

The following week, O'Hair finished in a tie for 3rd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

He shot a 63 in the third round to shoot up the leaderboard, but on the final day he finished three back of the champion Tiger Woods.

O'Hair started the 2009 season well with a fourth-place finish at the season opening Mercedes-Benz Championship and then a couple months later had a top-10 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

O'Hair then had his best showing at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship where he reached the quarter final stages, beating Adam Scott and Ian Poulter along the way, before losing to eventual finalist Paul Casey 4&3.

A birdie two on the "Island Green" 17th hole after he had feared he had flown the green with a 9-iron, and a birdie-birdie-birdie finish for a round of 66, gave him a 9-under-par 207 after 54 holes.

In the final round O'Hair, playing in the final pairing with Mickelson, was in second place when they came to the 17th, trailing by two strokes.

Mickelson played safely to the center of the multi-tiered green but O'Hair, in an effort to cut into the lead with birdie, elected to go for the pin and hit his tee shot over the back of the green into the water hazard.

His third shot, from the drop area, also ended up in the water and he finished the hole with a quadruple bogey seven.

O'Hair went on to bogey the 18th, dropping him from second to 11th place, which cost O'Hair approximately $747,000 in prize money.

O'Hair did not have any more notable results until the fall season series of events where he recorded consecutive top-5 finishes at the Fry's Electronics Open and the Ginn sur Mer Classic.