Player blog: Sean O'Hair
Editor's note: Sean O'Hair, who won the PODS Championship on Sunday, is writing a blog periodically for PGATOUR.com this year. Here is his second installment.
O'Hair: Sean's blog from the 2008 Northern Trust Open | Player page | 2008 Stats
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The past 48 hours have been crazy. When I finally looked at my phone, I had 47 text messages and my voice mailbox was full. I've gotten back to a few of the people who called, but I probably won't be able to get back to all of them or my phone bill is going to be 10 grand this week.
One of the texts was from Tiger, so that was really cool. I've heard from lots of friends, family, everybody. Now that I'm here at Bay Hill, people are coming over from everywhere. You're walking to the putting green and you've got 15 people coming up to say congratulations. I couldn't imagine doing it every single week like Tiger does. It would be nice to have to get used to that, though.
Sunday was really special. When I made that putt, I was so happy. I gave it a fist pump and then I just kind of put my head down. You just get these flashbacks of you on the range, grinding it out, missing cuts. Everything that went before just makes it that much more special. It makes it that much more emotional.
Having my family there, my wife and two kids, was the biggest thing. I was thinking about what it was like when I won the first time in 2005. Molly was just a baby. Now she's a little girl, and I have my son, too. So it was pretty cool. I don't think Molly really understands what happened, but she really loves the crystal. She reached out and wanted to hold it. So that was pretty fun.
It's a lot more special the second time around. I think I appreciate it a lot more because I know what I've done and what it means. The first win happened so quickly. It's harder the second time around, too. It's all individual. For certain players, it wasn't. For me, though, I put so much pressure on myself to achieve what I achieved in '05 -- or try to outdo it. But you can't think of it that way.
You have to play golf and let everything else take care of itself. That's something I learned, and am learning, right now. I've been working really hard with Bob Rotella, my sports psychologist, on that, and I think our efforts are paying off.
In some ways, the win is a relief. It's gotten me in some tournaments that I wouldn't have been in, and it just opens up the whole year for me. I'm not going to put a ton of pressure on myself. I'm not going to fall back into that trap. I'm going to focus on each week and that week alone. I'm going to take it one shot at a time. I just think it takes a ton of pressure off you.
When you start the season the way I normally do, job security starts coming into view and that won't be an issue for at least a couple of years. Like I've been telling everybody -- in a way, it feels great and in another way it motivates you to try to become better. I don't have to change anything to become better. I just have to do what I did last week more often. This is a stepping stone.
I'm going to take it one day at a time, one tournament at a time. If I do that, the results will happen. So I'm more focused on process -- working hard and working on the right thing. When you step over a shot, worry about your pre-shot routine, worry about your setup and just let it happen. Don't try to force things.
That was one of the great things about Sunday. I didn't try to make things happen. At THE PLAYERS Championship last year, you saw me try to force it on No. 17. This past Sunday, I was in position on the 15th hole where I was one or two shots back, and I could have gone for that pin. But I said all right, we're going to take it here, and we knocked it 30 feet and I made the putt. And that's the difference I think in me now and me last year.
I'm in a great place right now. In addition to my family and the way things are going on the golf course, I have some wonderful sponsors. I just signed with CDW and Dow Chemicals within the last month-and-a-half, and Franklin Templeton was already on board supporting me as my first corporate marketing partner. The thing I'm most pleased with is that they are top-notch people and companies. All three of them gave me calls when I won. I am having dinner with Mark Gambill, the chief marketing officer at CDW, tomorrow night. I am always working to improve my game, and utilizing technology has become a vital resource for me so CDW is a great fit for me. I've gotten to know Greg Johnson and Peter Jones from Franklin Templeton -- I've actually played a little golf with them -- and they're just awesome people. I'm looking forward to getting to know the people from Dow Chemical, too. I've been with TaylorMade for a long time, and those guys are top notch, as well. It's nice to win for yourself, but it's nice to say, hey, you guys are a big part of this, too. Earlier this year, I switched to the Spider putter, which I think is going to be the biggest equipment deal of the year. You see all this technology in the driver and irons and now, you've got it in the putter. This is the start of a new era in the technology of the putter. The Spider helped my putting out tremendously, and the ball is fantastic. You saw it last week. I feel like everything in my career is right there where I want it right now.
I'm looking forward to this week. I'm excited that it's Arnold Palmer's tournament. He actually came over to talk with me on Monday during the pro-am. I'd met him before briefly, but this was the first time I really talked to him.
I was actually kind of tongue-tied. He's talking to me, and I'm like, what do I say? What do I talk about? Honestly, it's overwhelming meeting a guy like that. You don't have any words. But it's so cool. I took a few pictures with him. I'll be able to show them to my grandkids years from now.
And I told him, you've got to take a picture with my wife -- you'd make her life if you did. So we're going to try and get it done. I'm just excited I'm here. I'm excited I'm playing tomorrow. It's a whole new week and I can't wait to see what happens.
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