Healthy O'Hair back on track after suffering stress fracture

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It was just the normal work he puts in after a practice round.

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A drill here, a little practice putting there. And honestly, all Sean O'Hair was doing in the oven-like Texas temperatures at Colonial that Tuesday afternoon was trying to spiff up his impact position.

He dug into the baked ground, felt a sharp pain and ... that was pretty much it for the day. He shook it off as one of those things. A little tendonitis.

Ten months, a WD, a Presidents Cup win and a fifth-place finish in the FedExCup later, O'Hair is pleased to say the stress fracture in his left forearm is pretty much healed at this point. Of course, he didn't know it was a fracture until the off-season when he finally found out what that nagging pain was and doctors told him to layoff practice. And everything else.

Never asked if that extended to shoveling snow from the blasts that hit his home in West Chester -- just outside Philadelphia -- and the rest of the East Coast, but we're figuring that was out too.

But the point here isn't residual scar tissue or clean sidewalks, it's that O'Hair is cruising into what has been a strength of his season with most everything -- well, his wedge game needs a bit of help -- falling into place. Even his putting, which doesn't usually come around this early.

He closed out the World Golf Championships-CA Championship Sunday with a 66 -- and a share of 18th place -- then criss-crossed Florida for this week's Transitions Championship, where he won in 2008. After that, it'll be the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he blew a five-shot lead and lost last year's event to Tiger Woods and finished second, then the Masters. A few weeks later, he'll defend at the Quail Hollow Championship.

"My proximity to the hole is not very good right now,'' he said. "So my birdie opportunities aren't as many as they should be.

"I definitely saw a huge improvement the last two days at Doral. And I'm quite excited about this week. I feel very comfortable on the golf course, and obviously I won here a year ago, and I kind of like how the game is falling into place. It's a good time to have the game come back.''

And be pain-free.

O'Hair left Colonial that Tuesday and put it out of his mind. By the weekend, the pain had returned and battled it much of last year and actually withdrew at the Memorial Tournament. He went on a quick run at the end of the year with three top-eights, then played The Presidents Cup where he went 2-2-1.

The irony? He couldn't practice much, if at all, by the end of the year.

"I was obviously quite concerned, because it kept getting worse and worse,'' he said. "Finally, in the end of the year I just figured that I better get it checked out. And I talked with the doctor and he said, you know, you've got a stress fracture in your forearm, and that's obviously what's causing the pain.

"If you're going to be injured, this is the type of injury you want because there is no surgery or anything like that necessary. You just take some time off and let it heal up. So he said it should recover actually a little stronger than it was in the past, but I've got to breakthrough that scar tissue which is a little bit painful. But I don't think there's any long term damage or anything like that.''

Even after resting in the off-season, O'Hair struggled early in Hawaii. He tied for fourth at the SBS Championship, but managed only a share of 72nd the following week at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

"And I remember this year at Hawaii on Sunday I couldn't even warm up,'' he said.

"I hit a few balls on the range and I just said, no, I don't know if I'm going to be able to play today. I took some Advil and kind of was able to play well somehow. I don't know how, but I did.''

Fast forward to the countdown to the Masters. His ball striking this year has been "sketchy'' but he's hitting it farther and his speed is coming around too. The short game? There's still a ways to go -- "I haven't been as many making bogeys and doubles as in years past, but unfortunately I haven't been making as many birdies'' -- but attributes that, in part, to the layoff. And, the wedges? In part to the groove issue.

"(Lack of practice from the injury has) been the biggest affect on my wedge play and all my games,'' O'Hair said. "So, you know, I'm now just being able to practice the way I want to practice. And I'm starting to see improvement. But I will say there is a little bit of an affect with the grooves. But that's just a matter of time before I can use that.''

O'Hair won in Tampa -- the then-PODS Championship -- in 2008, but it was last year's win at Quail Hollow that kicked him up a notch. He calls the one-stroke win over Bubba Watson and Lucas Glover his biggest win.

"It was a huge step for me, you know, due to, I guess, the golf course and obviously the field that plays in the event,'' he said. "You know, it's really kind of catapulted my career.''

His fondest memory was his first practice round.

"I think it was just I stepped on the golf course during the practice rounds and I really liked the setup,'' he said. "It was a lot different than years prior. Shorter rough, but kind of let you hit a lot more drivers off the tees. It just felt like you could make mistakes.

"In years past, I hadn't played very well there because I hadn't driven the ball well in the past. And obviously with the big rough, you know, it's difficult to do that. But last year I just felt very comfortable on the golf course.''

He credits losing to Tiger at Bay Hill for the win, too.

"It was the first time that I really dominated a golf tournament,'' he said. "I was five shots in the lead after three days. And so I think that was definitely something that could give me a ton of confidence.

"Any time you get to play against the best player in the world, the final group in a golf tournament, it's a positive thing whether you perform or not. Unfortunately, I just did not I just didn't get it done on the front nine.''

Tiger announced Tuesday he'll be returning to competition at the Masters, which O'Hair welcomes. He said it's been "pretty much business as usual" on TOUR without him, "but I think we miss Tiger. We want our best player out there. I think when you win a golf tournament, you'd like for him to be in the field, because it adds that much more to your win and to the tournament and really to the game."

And O'Hair thinks we will see the same Tiger -- the No. 1 player in the world -- on the course.

"I expect no less than how it was when he left, if not better,'' O'Hair said. "I think, obviously, he's dealing with a lot of issues right now, but I expect him to return ready to play and ready to win.''

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.