O'Hair Feels At Home At The Deutsche Bank Championship - September 4th

NORTON, Mass. – Sean O’Hair may have been born in Lubbock, Texas, but a trip to the TPC Boston each year for the Deutsche Bank Championship feels like a homecoming.

O’Hair, who became a full-time member of the PGA TOUR in 2005 after finishing fourth at qualifying school the winter prior, called New England a temporary home while working on his game in the early part of this decade.

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For two years, O’Hair chose to play on the New England Tour as an alternative to grinding his way through Monday qualifying tournaments hoping to earn a paycheck on the PGA TOUR. It was there that he brought his game to a new level, worked out kinks and propelled himself to full-time PGA TOUR membership.

“Some of [my wife] Jackie and my best memories were playing in New England,” said O’Hair. “We had a motor home and we were traveling around. At the time we had no kids… and we were trying to live week to week, really.”

The success he enjoyed on the New England Tour seemingly was revisited on Saturday morning in the second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship when he fired a 7-under-par 64 to jump into a tie for the lead at 12-under-par with playing partner Jim Furyk after the morning wave of play.

Much like his success on the New England Tour led to his current career, his play this weekend at the Deutsche Bank Championship feels like a refreshing comeback for the 27-year-old.

Since withdrawing from the Memorial Tournament in June with pain in his forearm, O’Hair has missed two cuts and finished no higher than tied for 23rd. The struggles came to a head last week in the opening round of the PGA TOUR Playoffs when O’Hair fired back to back rounds of 77 to miss the cut at The Barclays and drop from 10th to 16th in the FedExCup point standings.

“You kind of start losing your confidence a bit,” said O’Hair of his on-course problems. “I think I’ve definitely been second-guessing myself out there and doing a lot of searching instead of just trusting what I’ve been working on and sticking to it.”

Arriving in Boston this week frustrated, O’Hair knew his focus needed to change. He was ready to concede his position in the FedExCup point standings with hopes of turning his game around for sometimes more important to him – the President’s Cup.

“My coach and I worked this week, and we just said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to get back on track,’” O’Hair admitted. “My goal to be honest with you was to forget about the FedExCup. I just want to get back on track so I was ready for the President’s Cup.”

That focus may once again change as O’Hair finds himself in contention heading into the final two rounds. Should he hold the lead after the afternoon wave finishes, it will be just the third time in his career that O’Hair has held the 36-hole lead. If so, he’d like to change the past outcomes as both of his past two leads turned into runner-up finishes.

The key to doing that? O’Hair says it’s simple: putt well.

“I just think when you’re not putting, you just continue to put more pressure and more pressure and then, all of a sudden, the ball striking goes awry and here come the big numbers.

“Yesterday, I started seeing some putts go in. I said a little prayer of thanks and then just kind of started trusting it out there.”

If that trust can remain for two more days, O’Hair could be hoisting the Championship trophy come Monday evening. If that’s the case, O’Hair will add to his memory bank a new – and very special – memory of New England.