Sean O'Hair won at Quail Hollow yesterday for a one stroke victory on one of the most demanding courses the tour has faced all year. This was a great win for the 26 year old and should help him get over his tough loss to Tiger Woods at Bay Hill a few weeks ago. Sean O'Hair is one of the best young players on tour but does not however, have the typical PGA tour players background.Here are a few excerpts from two articles: http://www.gastongazette.com/sports/hair-33446-father-tournament.html
http://www.thegolfchannel.com/tour-insider/ohairs-father-releases-contracts-17076/
O'Hair, for those of you not familiar, was raised by a bit of an overbearing father, Marc, who viewed his son as a bit of cash cow when he was younger. While growing up he'd chauffer his son to tournaments across the country, making him run a mile for each bogey he made after the tournament and eventually forcing him to sign a contract paying his father 10 percent of his earnings.
Sean began every day at 5 a.m., running and lifting weights. He was forced to run a mile for every stroke he finished a round over par. Fellow players remembered Marc verbally abusing his son on and off the course.
He was forced to turn pro and wasn't allowed to go college because his father, as he put it in a 17-page release to the media back in 2005, didn't want him "drinking and whoring around."
"The thing about my dad is that, in his own twisted way, he did the best he could for me," O'Hair said in a 2005 Golf World story that appeared shortly after he earned his PGA Tour card. "But anyone who has the right perspective thinks he's crazy."
O'Hair's life changed when he met his wife Jackie Lucas, whom he married in 2002.
Her father-in-law, Steve, became his de facto father. Jackie caddied for Sean on various mini-tours when he turned pro and they used their wedding-gift money to pay for tournament entry fees, playing each week just to earn food money. Back in the day when the O'Hairs had no money, Sean's grandfather bought the couple a 40-foot three-slide Fleetwood Discovery motor home they drove from tournament to tournament.
Eventually he earned the money to pay back his grandfather, who has since passed away. Now he has enough money to buy an entire fleet of motor homes. O'Hair has earned nearly $10 million now on the PGA Tour, including $1.17 million Sunday with his victory at the Quail Hollow Championship. He and his wife now have three kids, and a home in Texas, and life is a little more normal.
Here is a link of Sean's father giving a statement to the media releasing Sean from the contract: http://www.thegolfchannel.com/tour-insider/marc-ohairs-faxed-statement-17079/
This is a pretty crazy story and it's great O' Hair has been able to become so successful. I hope he takes down the Player's Championship this week as well.
