Birdies lift slumping O'Hair into contention in Canada

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OAKVILLE, Ont. -- Sean O'Hair has done something so far in the rain-interrupted RBC Canadian Open that he hasn't done a lot of this year on the PGA TOUR. He has made birdies in bunches.

O'Hair, a 26-year-old native of Lubbock, Texas, fashioned eight birdies against two bogeys over Glen Abbey to grab a share of the tournament's first-round lead at 6-under-par 65, then overcame a pair of consecutive double bogeys with four more birdies in a second round of par 71, leaving him within hailing distance of runaway leader Chez Reavie.

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Sean O'Hair won the PODS Championship earlier this season.

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Reavie, a PGA TOUR rookie, led by four shots over Billy Mayfair and Steve Marino (each 134) late in his second round in brilliant sunshine with the golf course slowly drying out after several days of occasionally intense rain.

O'Hair, with a 36-hole total of 136, was 6 under, level with Mark Calcavechhia and a shot behind Carlos Franco and Ken Duke, each at 135. Canada's favorite golfing son, Mike Weir, plus first-round co-leaders Eric Axley and Anthony Kim, teed off late in the day and were due to finish their second rounds Saturday morning.

All those birdies represent a buffet for O'Hair, who stands 203rd this season on the PGA TOUR in birdies, averaging 2.62 per round. Still, he has made his best shots count, assembling a victory, in the PODS Championship, plus a tie for third in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, and sits 24th in the FedExCup standings.

"Ball-striking-wise, the first round is the best I've hit the ball all year,'' said O'Hair, who began working with Canadian coach Sean Foley only Monday of this week. "I hit the ball pretty good the second round, except for holes 1 and 2. My game's got a lot better and it got better quick.''

O'Hair, who began his second round on the 10th tee, turned a shot out of the lead, but double-bogeyed Glen Abbey's first and second holes, both times hitting his tee shot right. "Then I hit it left on both second shots,'' he said. "The first hole it was up against a tree. But my goal after that was to make four birdies and I made three in a row, so that wasn't too bad.

"I hit the ball really well, hit it close and I putted well. Put those two together and you're going to shoot a good score,'' said O'Hair, who had completed nine holes in 3-under par when Thursday's play, which was stalled by a nearly six-hour rain delay, was finally suspended by darkness.

He had a 40-footer for eagle at the morning's final hole that lipped out, leaving a tap-in birdie that was most welcome after a bogey at the 17th.

"Just hit a good putt there. I was thinking good speed and I would have taken a two-putt,'' he said of the last-hole birdie. "It looked like it was going in there for a second and just kind of lipped out. I was happy to come out with a birdie there.''

O'Hair made some noise at the RBC Canadian Open two years ago, at nearby Hamilton Golf and Country Club, with a third-place finish behind Jim Furyk and Bart Bryant, missing by two strokes. He was 50th in 2007 at Angus Glen North and is making his first trip around the Jack Nicklaus-designed Glen Abbey.

"I like it. There's some goofy greens, but all in all it's a nice layout,'' he said. "I like the way the fairways shape and it's kind of a shot-maker's-type golf course. I wish the conditions were a little drier, but they're doing a good job trying to get the golf course as best they can for us.''