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By John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor

LEMONT, Ill. -- "Golf is a lot more of a contact sport than people give it credit for." Those were the words of Arron Oberholser after he was forced to withdraw from the BMW Championship on Thursday.

Arron Oberholser played in 19 tournaments in 2007. (WireImage)

"I had a long bunker shot on six and I knew that I was going to catch the lip on my follow through. That is just about the worst case scenario," said the 32-year-old San Jose State grad. He finished out the nine and called it a season.

Arron has had a broken bone in his left hand for a good part of the summer. Ironically, favoring the left hand putt undue strain on his right hand which has developed tendonitis.

"It just needs some rest," he said Thursday afternoon.

Ranked 29th in FedExCup standings, Arron has a chance to hang into the top 30 and qualify for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. But he said that even if he maintained his position he would not be able to play in the final event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

Arron has fought numerous injuries this year. At the Mercedes-Benz Championship, his first trip to the winners-only event, he was fighting back pain that eventually led to a withdrawal. He labored for as long as he could on the hills of Kapalua before pulling the plug. The back injury turned out to be a bulging disk that prevented him from defending his AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am title a month later.

Those are the facts surrounding Arron's withdrawals. What most people don't know is that as upset as he was about not being physically able to defend his title at Pebble Beach he showed up anyway. He fulfilled media obligations and took on an unofficial host role. After all, he is a Northern California boy and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is more than just another tournament to him -- it is home.

Arron returned to competition at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. When he lost in the first round to David Toms 5 and 4, there was quiet speculation that he had come back too early. He put all of those questions to rest with a 10th-place finish at The Honda Classic the next week. Arron would go on to have the best summer of his career, including a tie for fourth at the PGA Championship.

"When you consider that I missed the whole West Coast, my favorite part of the year, it really has been a good year," he said Thursday afternoon.

That good year culminated just a week ago when he tied for second with Tiger Woods at the Deutsche Bank Championship. The finish vaulted Arron into the top 30 in FedExCup points. A solid week at the BMW Championship and he would have certainly been in the field at THE TOUR Championship next week.

After withdrawing, he was decidedly upset. He spent some time on his cell phone talking to family and friends, explaining what happened. Then he did several interviews. It would not have been surprising if he had made an excuse about seeing a doctor and left the property. The press would have understood. But, as he said, "I feel like I have an obligation."

Playing on the PGA TOUR comes with considerable responsibility. Many people, myself included, make our living bringing the TOUR to the public. Arron understands that responsibility. Not only that, he lives it.

Whether or not Arron will become a full-fledged star on the PGA TOUR remains to be seen. He has shown the game and the confidence to mix it up with the very best. If 2008 is an injury-free season for Oberholser he could just have one to remember.