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MERCEDES-BENZ NOTEBOOK
O'Hair gets nice paycheck with bright 65 in final round
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 12, 2009
KAPALUA, Maui » Sean O'Hair began the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship in a tie for 11th and trailing eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy by 10 shots. Not exactly in the picture.
But the young American made a nice move over the closing 18 holes thanks to an 8-under 65 to finish alone in fourth to earn an opening-day paycheck of $312,000.
"I'm very, very pleased with the way I'm playing right now," O'Hair said. "Coming into this week, I felt very good about my game and where I'm headed. I think this is proof that I'm headed in the right direction and I just have to feed it into next week (at the Sony Open in Hawaii).
"You know, I need to obviously focus -- when I'm there next week. I need to focus on the tournament and not what I did this week. You know, I feel like I'm working on the right things with my coach and I feel like I'm a little bit smarter and a little more seasoned."
O'Hair was just one of eight Americans to finish in the top 10 this week. The two exceptions were Ogilvy and Ernie Els. The 26-year-old from Pennsylvania has two victories since first joining the PGA Tour in 2004 and had he got his putter working a little sooner, perhaps he could have challenged the hot-handed Ogilvy.
"You know, sometimes you just catch fire like that," O'Hair said of Ogilvy's four-day title run on the par-73 Plantation Course. "Obviously, a player of his stature, I mean, you get on fire like that and you win by six or seven."
Show him some love
The only way Davis Love III made it back to Kapalua for the first time since 2007 was by winning the final tournament of last year. Battling back from a nasty ankle sprain after stepping into a hole 16 months ago, Love's quarter-century acquaintance with Kapalua paid off with a tie for second with fellow American Anthony Kim at 18-under 274. Ogilvy was six shots better at 268.Love birdied the final hole to draw even with Kim. The 9-footer at the closing hole was worth an additional $165,000.
"That's why I made it," Love said, "because I wasn't thinking about anything. I'm not supposed to be looking at the scoreboard, and they put it right behind where I've got to look at it. I knew it was important and knew I would get second (the 30th runner-up finish of his career) if I birdied the last hole. I'm happy to get off to a good start in Hawaii and am looking forward to next week."
McLachlin holds steady
After opening with a disappointing 77 on Thursday, Parker McLachlin played his closing 54 holes in 10 under par to put himself in a good playing state entering this week's Sony Open.The Punahou School grad shot a closing 71 yesterday to finish in a tie for 24th in his first Mercedes Championship appearance. It was also the first time McLachlin has been here since they put in the new greens in 2005, something that might have kept him from finishing higher up the leaderboard.
"I remember the greens having a lot more grain in them than they do now and I kept over-reading them," McLachlin said. "I was kind of in a fog the first round, but I'm happy with the way I played here."
McLachlin had three birdies on his front nine (he started at the 10th), but a double bogey at the first hole kept him from landing in the 60s for the second time this week.
KAPALUA, Maui » Sean O'Hair began the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship in a tie for 11th and trailing eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy by 10 shots. Not exactly in the picture.
But the young American made a nice move over the closing 18 holes thanks to an 8-under 65 to finish alone in fourth to earn an opening-day paycheck of $312,000.
"I'm very, very pleased with the way I'm playing right now," O'Hair said. "Coming into this week, I felt very good about my game and where I'm headed. I think this is proof that I'm headed in the right direction and I just have to feed it into next week (at the Sony Open in Hawaii).
"You know, I need to obviously focus -- when I'm there next week. I need to focus on the tournament and not what I did this week. You know, I feel like I'm working on the right things with my coach and I feel like I'm a little bit smarter and a little more seasoned."
O'Hair was just one of eight Americans to finish in the top 10 this week. The two exceptions were Ogilvy and Ernie Els. The 26-year-old from Pennsylvania has two victories since first joining the PGA Tour in 2004 and had he got his putter working a little sooner, perhaps he could have challenged the hot-handed Ogilvy.
"You know, sometimes you just catch fire like that," O'Hair said of Ogilvy's four-day title run on the par-73 Plantation Course. "Obviously, a player of his stature, I mean, you get on fire like that and you win by six or seven."
Show him some love
The only way Davis Love III made it back to Kapalua for the first time since 2007 was by winning the final tournament of last year. Battling back from a nasty ankle sprain after stepping into a hole 16 months ago, Love's quarter-century acquaintance with Kapalua paid off with a tie for second with fellow American Anthony Kim at 18-under 274. Ogilvy was six shots better at 268.Love birdied the final hole to draw even with Kim. The 9-footer at the closing hole was worth an additional $165,000.
"That's why I made it," Love said, "because I wasn't thinking about anything. I'm not supposed to be looking at the scoreboard, and they put it right behind where I've got to look at it. I knew it was important and knew I would get second (the 30th runner-up finish of his career) if I birdied the last hole. I'm happy to get off to a good start in Hawaii and am looking forward to next week."
McLachlin holds steady
After opening with a disappointing 77 on Thursday, Parker McLachlin played his closing 54 holes in 10 under par to put himself in a good playing state entering this week's Sony Open.The Punahou School grad shot a closing 71 yesterday to finish in a tie for 24th in his first Mercedes Championship appearance. It was also the first time McLachlin has been here since they put in the new greens in 2005, something that might have kept him from finishing higher up the leaderboard.
"I remember the greens having a lot more grain in them than they do now and I kept over-reading them," McLachlin said. "I was kind of in a fog the first round, but I'm happy with the way I played here."
McLachlin had three birdies on his front nine (he started at the 10th), but a double bogey at the first hole kept him from landing in the 60s for the second time this week.
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