Sean O’Hair used a rock-solid long game to win the US$6.4 million Quail Hollow Championship by one stroke on Sunday.
Despite failing to hole a putt from outside 10 feet during the entire tournament, the 26-year-old edged fellow Americans Lucas Glover (71) and Bubba Watson (70) in a battle of attrition.
Tiger Woods finished two shots behind O’Hair alone in fourth place, after parring the final 10 holes.
PHOTO: AFP
O’Hair carded 69 to finish at 11-under-par 277, just holding on after bogeying the final two holes in a testing breeze.
“I struck the ball phenomenal this week,” said O’Hair, who collected US$1,152,000 for his third PGA Tour victory. “Yesterday was probably the best I’ve struck it ever and today was pretty solid, especially coming down the stretch.”
“This is one of those courses you have to have the whole package,” he said.
O’Hair’s victory came barely a month after he frittered away a big lead before finishing second to Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida.
“Losing sucked at Bay Hill,” O’Hair said. “Even though it’s tough to lose a five-shot lead against Tiger, you still learn a lot from it. I think it’s just experience.”
“I talked to my coach and my caddie and we all said that all I have to do is keep putting myself in those situations and at some point I’ll learn how to win,” he said.
O’Hair seized the advantage on Sunday with birdies at the 15th and 16th holes, but promptly gave them back by bogeying the final two holes, including a three-putt at the last.
That gave Glover a chance to possibly force a playoff but his approach went over the green at the par-four 18th and he missed his chip back for birdie, ending his chances.
Earlier, third rounder leader Zach Johnson triple-bogeyed the par-three second, and he faded to finish tied for 11th on seven-under 281, while New Zealand teenager Danny Lee tied for 38th at two-under in his second start as a professional.
Woods, who nearly won the tournament despite clearly being nowhere near his best, was perplexed at his performance.
“It was one of those weird weeks,” Woods said.
“I didn’t feel comfortable with my swing, especially today. With this wind, you have to flush it to keep it going through the wind and I wasn’t doing a very good job of that today,” he said.
■SPANISH OPEN
REUTERS, GIRONA, SPAIN
Frenchman Thomas Levet overcame early setbacks to secure a two-stroke victory in the Spanish Open and land his fifth European Tour title on Sunday.
Levet posted a final-round 68 for an 18-under-par aggregate that saw him home ahead of Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti.
Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn and Peter Lawrie of Ireland shared third place, four adrift of Levet, who paid tribute to Seve Ballesteros, the Spaniard who is recovering from surgery to remove a brain tumor.
“I dedicate this win to Ballesteros,” Levet told reporters. “He was my hero as a kid and has always been my inspiration.”
Two strokes ahead of Briton Stuart Davis overnight, Levet had conceded the lead by the third after the rookie Englishman birdied the first three holes.
Davis moved two strokes clear but his double-bogey on the short fifth drew the pair level and Levet then moved back in front with three successive birdies from the sixth.
Zanotti, beginning the round five behind Levet, also picked up shots on the first three holes and subsequently proved to be the 2004 Ryder Cup-winning Frenchman’s chief rival as Davis’ challenge disintegrated after the turn.
Bjorn also applied the pressure as the nine-times European Tour champion put in his best title challenge for two years, picking up six shots in six holes from the 11th.
Bjorn’s performance gave the Dane hope that his game has returned.
“I was reminded this week that I’m nearly 300th in the world now,” the 38-year-old told reporters. “I have got to stop living in the past. I can take a lot from this week now.”
Twice major champion John Daly closed with a 69 to finish 15 shots behind Levet in the first of five events he is playing on the European Tour.
Daly finishes a six-month US Tour ban for bringing the tour into disrepute, at the end of this month.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but