O'Hair Winning War of Attrition at Bay Hill

Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge is playing like a U.S. Open. The rough is high and mean especially around the greens. The wind is constant and gusty up to 35 MPH. The greens are hard and fast.

The only difference may be the width of the fairways in the landing areas. The average score for the tournament is 72.4 on the par-70 track and on Saturday it was 73.5. No doubt about it- U.S. Open conditions three months early.

On a day when 22 golfers started out under par for the tournament after two rounds and only five golfers finished under par, 26-year old two-time winner on the PGA TOUR Sean O’Hair played in the final twosome of the day with 34-year old one-time winner Jason Gore.

O’Hair had a three stroke lead after two rounds over Gore with the field not much further behind.

O’Hair watched helplessly as Gore hit his approach from the right rough on No. 1 to 15 feet and sunk the putt for birdie. Unable to convert short birdie putts on the first two holes there was no doubt O’Hair was thinking “what’s wrong with my game” when in fact he was off to a solid start.

Amateurs get into that mode, professionals realize there are many holes left to play and don’t press the situation.

The O’Hair-Gore pairing was good for both parties. It was lighthearted with conversations taking place, stories being told with smiles and chuckles.

O’Hair’s pregnant wife Jaclyn, due with their third child in June around U.S. Open time, walked the course with Gore’s wife Megan on a very pleasant afternoon to be outside in central Florida. Win-or-lose this tournament the fact that their husbands are playing well is good for the family.

O’Hair is the younger of the two and sort of more the upstart. He turned professional after his junior year in high school back in 1999. Gore graduated from Pepperdine University in 2000 after being a member of the 1997 NCAA Championship team.

O’Hair went to Q-School every year from 1999 until he earned his initial card in 2005. He won in his rookie season at the John Deere Classic and earned $2.5 million. His second win came last year at the PODs Championship (now the Transitions). O’Hair has had four solid years on the PGA TOUR.

Gore finished T14 at the 2000 Q-School to earn his 2001 tour card. But he was mainly a Nationwide Tour player winning six times there until he won the 2005 84 Lumber Classic. Last year he finished 134th on the Money List earning conditional status for this year. Gore is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption from the tournament’s namesake Arnold Palmer.

After narrowing the lead to two strokes Gore hit a loose iron right on the difficult uphill par-4 fourth hole. After carrying a chip too far down the slope he missed the 25-footer coming back for par.

The wind really kicked up as the twosome was in the fairway on the fifth hole. Gore hit first from 125 yards and got a good bounce left off a grassy bank leaving an eight footer for birdie.

Roger Maltbie the on-course golf analyst for NBC Sports was friendly with both golfers but more so with Gore as he pointed out the exact spot from where he received the favorable bounce.

After Sean O’Hair knocked in his 15-footer for his first birdie of the day, Jason Gore lipped out his makeable birdie putt of eight feet. After a questionable start now O’Hair was able to increase his lead by one to four strokes.

The “cape hole” No. 6 is a par-five dog-leg-left around a lake where you can see the green from the tee though you cannot drive it far enough over the water to reach it though legend has it John Daly once did exactly that. On a “cape hole” you pick a line of play over the water to where you feel you can safely carry the ball to the fairway.

Today No. 6 was playing directly into the wind on the tee shot. Both golfers safely navigated the water carry though Gore from a distance of 258 yards to the hole chose to lay up on his second shot.

O’Hair played more aggressively from a closer distance and carried the ball long and left of the putting surface. It ricocheted off the rocks and finished in the water hazard behind the green.

Just after O’Hair’s doomed play a sonic boom sounded from the space shuttle Discovery landing at the Kennedy Space Center on the eastern coast of Florida. Everyone including O’Hair thought a plane high in the sky was the shuttle but it was not.

The moment got a little more bizarre when a rules official summoned a spectator inside the ropes to define exactly where the ball hit the grass before it hit the rocks. Evidently the rules call for using “the best available evidence” even if it is not necessarily qualified. Sean took a drop chipped up and missed the 12-footer for par. Bogey followed birdie.

Gore’s 6-iron carried too far in the slightly helping cross wind on the par-three seventh hole. He fails to convert the ensuing 12-footer for par and with the bogey falls four strokes behind O’Hair who is at minus-eight.

Both golfers par the eight hole where there is a nearby house party with loud music. Obviously the party house in Palmer’s quiet Bay Hill community.

They even rented a scissors lift for enhanced guest viewing of the golf action. Potentially drunk friends up high in a scissors lift in your front yard. One of the things you don’t tell your homeowner insurance agent unless you are forced to spill the beans.

Things slow down on the ninth hole where yesterday O’Hair finished off a six birdie round with his only bogey of the day. Evidently some spectator picked up Kevin Na’s ball near the OB stakes on the left.

She stayed at the scene of the crime and after being interrogated it was deemed his ball was out of bounds. Na and Overton actually let Mahan and Herron play through something unheard of on the PGA TOUR. Tiger Woods had to wait 19 minutes before teeing off on No. 9.

O’Hair bogeys the ninth hole again after flying the ball long and left into a bunker. He had an awkward stance with his right leg out of the bunker almost horizontally getting a foot hold into the side of the hill.

The ball ran out and he missed the 30-footer for par. Of the leaders Gore and Woods were the only ones to par No. 9. O’Hair, Allenby, Imada all bogeyed while Mahan double bogeyed it.

Both golfers were 1-over par for the first nine holes and O’Hair’s three stroke lead was still intact. O’Hair hit five of seven fairways, six greens and got it up-and-down one of three attempts. He needed 16 putts. Gore hit six fairways, four greens and converted three of five chips and needed 14 putts.

The path from the ninth green to the 10th tee winds through the driving range and across the putting green for the professional golfers inside the ropes. Parker McLachlin, President Obama’s golfing and basketball pal from Hawaii told Gore he liked his smile.

Gore responded with “are you trying to hit on me?” Everyone’s trying to keep it lighthearted at work on the PGA TOUR these days just like in corporate America and at the plant.

O’Hair faced that one unique crisis point we all face in a round of golf. That time when things either go south or head north for us. His approach from 118 yards flew long and through the green on the 10th hole.

With a difficult lie his chip ran out stopping 15 feet from the hole. It looked likely he would suffer his second bogey in a row and the third one for the day. He stepped up and drilled the putt into the hole saving his par.

Tiger-esque in his par save he went on like the real Tiger and birdied the next three holes. A laser like iron from 137 yards for tap-in birdie on the par-four 11th hole started the streak. Reaching the 580-yard par-five 12th hole from 248 yards out and two putting from the fringe kept the birdie streak going.

Another solid iron and 10-foot putt on the 364-yard par four 13th hole completed the trifecta and enabled O’Hair to get it to 10-under par for the tournament. Gore was in a second place tie with Tiger Woods and Robert Allenby.

Gore meanwhile duplicated O’Hair’s laser iron at No. 11 for his own tap-in birdie. Though near the green in two on No. 12 he miffed a difficult down slope chip shot and had to hit the same shot again only to miss the ensuing 10-foot par putt. After both players parred the par-three 14th hole O’Hair’s lead of six strokes was maintained.

Like his drive on No. 9 late Friday afternoon, O’Hair's drive on the dog-leg-right 15th hole was only slightly off line though ending up in the grove of magnolia trees. His chip out cut slice ran short of the green. H

e shipped strongly and left the 10-foot par putt woefully short as the baked looking green was slower than expected.

Gore missed a shorted putt for birdie on the same line as O’Hair’s missed par putt though walked off the green one stroke closer but still five away from the tournament leader with three difficult finishing holes left to play.

Both golfers hit the fairway on the toughest hole in the tournament—the 485-yard par-four 16th hole where hitting the fairway is critical. Otherwise it is a lay-up shot short of the water fronting the green from the rough.

The chance for reaching the green are better from either the left or right fairway bunkers if the lie is good. O’Hair joked afterwards that this should be a par-seven not a par-four hole. Fortunately the tournament committee had the tees moved up today as it was playing directly into the wind.      

O’Hair carried his ball a bit too far and right of the front hole location. It rolled through a swale and stopped a couple of feet from the short grass on the first cut of the fringe. Using a five-wood to chip-putt the ball it released nicely and navigated the slope to within five feet of the hole.

Then Gore let his 10-foot birdie putt down the slope get away from him though he converted the 10-footer coming back for par. O’Hair stepped in and missed his par putt bogeying his second hole in a row.

Both players’ balls hit hard and released on the 219-yard par-three 17th hole. Gore’s ran through the green onto the back fringe. O’Hair’s stopped 40 feet past the hole. Gore chipped to five feet and O’Hair two-putted for par.

While Gore lined up his par putt his caddied tripped over a sprinkler depression and fell down on the fringe. The crowd roared with laughter though fortunately he did not twist an ankle and injure himself. Jovial yet distracted Gore missed the par putt and fell to minus-three for the tournament five stroked behind O’Hair.

O’Hair's smooth wedge on the final green flew 169 yards downwind into the back bunker. He missed the 10-footer for par and watched with dismay as Gore three-putted from five feet for double-bogey after chipping from the back fringe.

Stats on the back nine: O’Hair hit six of seven fairways, five greens, converted two of five chips, needed 14 putts and shot a one-under 35. Gore hit five fairways, five greens, converted one of five chips, needed 17 putts including the three-putt on No. 18 and shot a three-over 38.

Overall for the day O’Hair shot a one-over par 70 with four birdies and five bogeys. He bogeyed three of the last four holes yet managed to shoot one-under on the back nine. Gore shot a four-over par 74 with two birdies, four bogeys and one double bogey.

With Tiger in the clubhouse at minus-two, Gore’s double bogey and minus-one finish cost him a spot in the final group on Sunday. First-in in the event of ties are first-out the following day.

Due to rain expected Saturday night the field will go out in threesomes off both tees between approximately 11 AM and 1 PM.

This gives the grounds crew extra time to prepare the golf course for competition and makes that competition fairer in that all players are on the course at relatively the same time experiencing the same weather and course conditions.

The final group Sunday afternoon will include the leader-by-five-strokes O’Hair at seven-under par, Tiger Woods in second place alone who shot 71 and Zach Johnson one stroke further back who shot 68. Also tied with Johnson and Gore at one-under is Ryuji Imada who shot 73.

Three other golfers seven strokes back at even par will play in the second group from the last: Pat Perez, Scott Verplank, and Robert Allenby.

It will be interesting to see what the weather turns out to be over the night and what type of course will present itself for the final round.