Father's Motives?

O'Hair Gets on Path to Happiness
Wife and baby help to overcome overbearing dad
By STEVE CAMPBELL
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

IRVING - The career of Sean O'Hair is just beginning. Against all odds, he is heading on a path to a happily-ever-after ending.

O'Hair is a 22-year-old PGA Tour rookie with more baggage than Bush Intercontinental airport on a holiday weekend. Less than five months into his career, O'Hair has earned nearly $1 million and secured a spot on the tour for next year. He finished second at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship — one stroke behind Ted Purdy — and that's not the half of it.

Somehow, some way, O'Hair shows no outward signs of wear and tear from his arduous journey to the tour. O'Hair has a wife, Jaclyn, he describes as "the heartbeat of my game and my life" and marvels at ways his 3-month daughter, Molly, can make him smile. At O'Hair's request, his father-in-law, Steve Lucas, has taken leave from his insurance business to serve as his caddie.

Instead of being his father's investment, O'Hair is part of a loving family.

And reveling in it.

"I'm really happy with my life," O'Hair said. "Whenever you've got great people behind you, and you're in that state of mind as far as being happy with yourself, being happy with your life, it's kind of hard not to succeed, even if it's not on the golf course.

"I mean, I'm going to be a happy person if I'm not playing well, and that's the key. It used to be where if I didn't play well I was an unhappy person. I don't think your golf game depicts who you are as a person."


Notorious father
For too long, O'Hair had little choice but to define himself as a golfer. His father, Marc, became notorious in American Junior Golf Association circles as a cross between the Great Santini and Gordon Gekko. At his father's prodding, O'Hair turned professional before graduating high school. They put on some 200,000 miles together at assorted Nationwide and mini-tour events, with Marc O'Hair serving as caddie and controlling force.


Said the father to a 60 Minutes II interviewer: "I was in business 20 years, and I know how to make a profit. You've got the same thing —
it's material, labor and overhead. He's pretty good labor."

O'Hair and his father have been estranged for more than two years. Gone are the days of waking up at 5 a.m. to work out. Gone are the public scoldings and slaps alongside the head. Gone are the days of running punishment miles for making bogeys.

Gone, but not forgotten. Steve Lucas is careful not to be critical of Marc O'Hair and points out that Sean's parents must have done something right. Still, he clearly favors a kinder, gentler approach.

"Golf is not life," Lucas said. "Golf is his job. If you're lucky enough to go out and finish in 5 1/2 hours, that's a short day for most people. And at the end of the day, you can look at your wife and baby, and they're going to make you feel great if you shoot 83 or 63."

When O'Hair was a minor, his father had him sign an agreement to turn over 10 percent of his earnings for life. Marc O'Hair told the Orlando Sentinel that as soon as his son hits it big, he'll send copies of that agreement to major media outlets across the country. For some reason, Marc O'Hair seemed to think such a thing would reflect poorly on his son.

Did O'Hair have to grow up too fast for his own good?

"I think there was a lot of things that I sacrificed, but I don't know if I would be here if I didn't turn pro at such a young age," said O'Hair, a Lubbock native who moved out of state before he was a teenager. "That's a hard question. All I can say is that I'm very happy with where my life is right now, and I wouldn't change anything at all."

Sean O'Hair's mother and sister showed up to watch him play the final round of the Nelson. His father was nowhere to be seen or heard.

"I love my dad," O'Hair said. "I hope he's doing well. That's all I have to say."

British Open champion Todd Hamilton played half a practice round with O'Hair on Tuesday. Hamilton had read about O'Hair saga and was struck by how well-adjusted he seems. O'Hair also has plenty of game, ranking 17th on the tour in driving distance and in the upper half in greens in regulation (60th at 66.7 percent). He has made seven consecutive cuts, the 11th-longest active streak on tour.

"He's 22 years old, but he plays a lot more mature than I did for sure at 22," Purdy said.


Positive attitude
In just the 12th start of his career, O'Hair slept on the lead after the second and third rounds. He got up and down from the sand four times during the final round and birdied two of his final three holes to shoot 68.


"I definitely was playing to win," O'Hair said. "Now that I've got a taste of this, my feelings are 'Let's go win a few tournaments.' I'm not going to get ahead of myself.

"I'm not going to put a bunch of pressure on myself after this week. I'm just going to work my butt off, and hopefully I'll be in this situation a lot more this year."