Sean O'Hair Wins The Quail Hollow Championship

Sean O’Hair struggled down the stretch, but, another overall solid round of golf was good enough for his third PGA Tour victory.

After birdies at the 15th and 16th, O’Hair held a two-stroke lead and seemingly had a firm grasp on the Quail Hollow Championship.

But, as we have seen all week, no lead, no mater how large, is secure heading into the final two holes at Quail Hollow Golf Club.

The 16th, 17th and 18th holes at Quail Hollow are popularly known as the ‘green mile’ and are considered to be amongst the most difficult closing holes in all of golf.

After two consecutive birdies at the 15th and 16th, O’Hair missed the green on the treacherous par-three 17th and after failing to get up-and-down, his lead over Lucas Glover had diminished to just one-stroke.

O’Hair hit a perfect drive on the 18th but his approach shot flew to the back of the green, leaving him with a downhill, lightening fast 25-foot putt.

With the adrenaline surely racing through his veins, O’Hair rolled first putt more than eight feet by the hole and then missed his par putt coming back.

Quail Hollow’s ‘green mile’ appeared to have claimed yet another victim.

O’Hair headed to the clubhouse tied at 11-under-par with Lucas Glover, who was still on the course.

The only optimism O’Hair must have felt as he walked off the 18th green after his disappointing finish was that co-leader Lucas Glover still had to make his way through the ‘green mile’.

Just moments after walking off the 18th green, O’Hair would be put at ease upon seeing Glover’s bogey on the 17th flash up on the scoreboard.

Glover now needed to birdie the 18th, which ranked as the toughest hole on the course all week, in order to force a playoff with O’Hair.

O’Hair was on the putting green gearing up for a possible playoff when he was notified that Glover was unable to birdie the 18th, and the 26-year-old had officially won the third PGA Tour event of his career.

On a day when the leader board was filled with the names of past major champions such as Tiger Woods, Zach Johnson, Reteif Goosen, David Toms and Davis Love III, it was young guns Lucas Glover, Bubba Watson and Sean O’Hair that held steady over the course of the final round.

54-hole leader, Zach Johnson, was never able to fully recover from the embarrassing triple bogey he suffered on the par-three second which was the result of a tee-shot that could only be considered a shank.

Woods, Goosen, Toms and Love were all unable to break par on a day that yielded several rounds in the 60s.

Despite what some might view as a wavering finish to his round, O’Hair had already made his back-nine charge earlier and the two-stroke lead he held as he approached the final two holes at Quail Hollow was exactly where he needed to be.

O’Hair birdied the 10th, 12th 15th and 16th and still managed to play the final nine-holes in two-under par, which was more than could be said for the likes of Woods, Goosen, Toms or Love, who when combined recorded just one birdie (David Toms on the 14th) and an eagle (Davis Love III on the 10th)on the back-nine.

Obviously no one aspires to win a tournament while bogeying the final two holes.

However, the final two holes at Quail Hollow are no ordinary finishing holes.

When the heat was on during the final hours of the tournament, O’Hair was the only one in the field to step up and aggressively attach the back-nine at Quail Hollow, which is why he leaves the course this evening with the tournament title and a $1.15 million check.

Prior to his victory today, O’Hair was probably best known as the player who squandered a five-stroke lead to Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Now, O’Hair might also be known as the player that was able to get it done down the stretch at Quail Hollow when Tiger Woods could not.