PGA Tour sixth alternate co-leads in Canada regardless of wild journey delays

A panicked Sean O’Hair was stranded in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday due to extreme climate delays.

He had simply obtained a name from the PGA Tour, through which an official knowledgeable him that he had made it into the RBC Canadian Open subject. A couple of different tour execs had withdrawn, bumping him up the alternate checklist and finally into the event. Subsequently, the tour felt obligated to tell O’Hair that he wanted to make his method to Canada.

O’Hair, who lives in Lubbock, has 4 PGA Tour wins to his identify, along with his most up-to-date triumph coming in 2011, when he gained the RBC Canadian Open. However he couldn’t catch a flight out of his hometown all day on Tuesday, so he hopped in a automotive very first thing Wednesday morning and drove 5 hours to Dallas, the place a airplane to Canada awaited him.

He finally made it to Hamilton by Wednesday night, however he didn’t have time to play a follow spherical earlier than his Thursday morning tee time.

However it didn’t matter.

O’Hair went out and carded a 7-under 63 for his opening spherical, as he sits atop the leaderboard tied with Sam Burns via 18 holes.

“I used to be lucky sufficient to get right here. I used to be exhausted,” O’Hair stated after.

Photograph by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Photographs

“I used to be in a fog immediately as a result of I used to be simply so drained, however it labored out.”

Certainly, it did.

O’Hair rode his sizzling putter, making 5 birdies over his first 12 holes. He then eagled the seventeenth, due to a 27-foot bomb he made on Hamilton Golf & Nation Membership’s remaining par-5.

“It’s a reasonably tight driving gap, so I simply sort of lower a driver off that left bunker there and pulled it off,” O’Hair stated of 17.

“Then, I hit a extremely good 5-wood to the center of the inexperienced. I used to be capable of be aggressive with the eagle putt as a result of it was up the hill. Simply broke a little bit proper and went proper within the middle. That was good.”

O’Hair, like Rory McIlroy, performed the course blind. However his caddie arrived earlier within the week and walked the course quite a few occasions.

“There wasn’t a lot of a sport plan. I’ve sort of put the sport plan on him, and he simply guided me on the market immediately,” O’Hair stated.

“I belief him doing that. He does a extremely good job of charting the programs for me. I simply trusted him immediately, and it labored.”

Though he closely relied on his looper, O’Hair nonetheless admitted to feeling uncomfortable on the market.

“I wish to be ready. However I didn’t have an possibility. I believe while you don’t actually have an possibility, and also you’re sort of making a giant deal about it, it nearly hurts you,” O’Hair stated.

“I simply stated, ‘Look, I don’t actually count on an entire lot immediately.’ I haven’t actually been taking part in that nice both, so to return out right here and shoot the rating I did immediately was undoubtedly sort of a shocker for me. Experience it out, I suppose, so long as I can.”

O’Hair could have time on Thursday afternoon to lastly settle in, however the final man within the subject will relaxation fortunately, figuring out his identify sits atop the leaderboard.

Hopefully, for his sake, he can hold it going over the subsequent 54 holes.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. You should definitely try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.