Accenture Match Play Elite Eight: USA's Sean O'Hair

text size

Miralle/Getty Images

O'Hair is making quite a run in just his second World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play appearance.

Feb. 27, 2009
By PGATOUR.COM Staff

Sean O'Hair doesn't care about his limited match play experience or the fact that, as the 12th seed in his bracket, that he's the lowest seed still left in the tournament.

"Golf is golf," O'Hair said. "If you're going to play good and you play better than your opponent, you're going to win. The fact of the matter is I am playing just like it's a medal play tournament."

If this were a medal play tournament, O'Hair might be playing for just a paycheck instead of a chance to win a tournament that he's only played in once before, which was back in 2006 at La Costa. Instead, his eight bogeys are erased and thensome by the 14 birdies he's put up in three matches -- all of which he was forced to come from behind in. Welcome to match play.

O'HAIR QUOTE: "I think it's great if somebody chips in and you got to make a putt. It's fantastic because you've only got one option. I think that it actually makes it a little easier."

KEY STAT: O'Hair was 2 down on the front nine in each of his first three matches, but rallied with a combined nine birdies to just three bogeys on the back nine at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

QUARTERFINAL OPPONENT: Paul Casey (Saturday tee time: 9:44 a.m. ET)

How O'Hair Reached the Quarterfinals

Round 1: Defeated Adam Scott	1 up
O'Hair pulled off the upset with a solid round of 4 under but it wasn't easy. The two -- who could meet in a Presidents Cup down the road -- halved the first hole with birdies, then traded wins at Nos. 2 and 3 with two more birdies to keep the match square. Scott won the fifth hole with a par and the seventh with a birdie to go 2 up, but O'Hair evened the match with wins at Nos. 8 and 9. He gained the upper hand for good when he made a birdie at the 15th hole, then parred in to earn a first-round victory for the second straight year. Scott's record is now 13-8.
Round 2: Defeated Boo Weekley	2 and 1
For the first 12 holes, O'Hair didn't have much going on -- he was 4 over at that point. Luckily for him, Weekley was even worse -- 5 under, with a double bogey at the 11th. In fact, through the first 11 holes of the match, the two Americans were a combined 9 over, with not a birdie between them. But O'Hair finally found his scoring touch at the 13th with a birdie to go 1 up. Weekley won the next hole, but O'Hair answered with a birdie at the 15th, and closed out the match when Weekley bogeyed the 17th.
Round 3: Defeated Ian Poulter	2 and 1
Poulter has been on a match-play roll ever since his impressive performance at Valhalla in last year's Ryder Cup. But O'Hair overcame a poor start to defeat the Englishman and advance to the quarterfinals. O'Hair bogeyed two of the first three holes and was 2 down until a birdie at the sixth got him back on track. Another birdie at the eighth squared the match, then birdies at holes 12, 13 and 15 put him 3 up. He gave one back with a bogey at the 16th, but by then Poulter was running out of holes.