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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 5, 2009

Sean O'Hair

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

MARK WILLIAMS: Sean O'Hair, thanks for joining us in the interview room at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Great round, 12-under par, currently tied for the lead after the morning session. Good stretch of 8-under in eight holes in the middle of your round. Just talk a little bit about it and what was good today.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, I struck it really nicely today, gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdie and rolled it really nicely, just good speed control with the putter the last couple days, and I feel very comfortable on these greens. They're perfect. They're that bentgrass, solid bent, and last week was kind of that bumpy poa annua, so I'm just glad to be on really good greens.
I think a lot of it has to do with just feeling comfortable on this golf course.
MARK WILLIAMS: 16th in the FedExCup rankings. Coming in here, you've had a great year already, but just the last three or four weeks has been a little struggle. Any particular reason for that?
SEAN O'HAIR: Well, it all started basically at Colonial. I injured myself the Monday of Colonial, and oddly enough I actually hit the ball really nicely Thursday and Friday of Colonial, but it really kind of started getting painful on the weekend, and then had to pull out of Memorial. So it kind of threw me for a loop a little bit because I was really playing some nice golf.
I got healthy before the U.S. Open and had the baby right after U.S. Open, so off the golf course, things were busy.
And then you put a couple bad tournaments in there and then you kind of start losing your confidence a little bit. So I think a lot of it just had to do with mental. I think I've definitely been second-guessing myself out there and doing a lot of searching instead of just trusting what I've been working on and sticking to it.
My coach and I worked this week, and we just said, hey, you've got to get back on track. And my goal was -- really to be honest with you was to forget about the FedExCup, and Presidents Cup was my main goal. I just want to get back on track so I was ready for Presidents Cup.

Q. What did you do at Colonial? You said you tweaked something.
SEAN O'HAIR: Practicing I was hitting a lot of balls, and something in between my forearm and my elbow, kind of right underneath that bone there, I think I pulled a muscle. There was really nothing I could do for it, just take some time off and not hit as many balls. The tough thing was that was during a good stretch of golf tournaments. You've got Memorial, then you've got U.S. Open that you want to get ready for. So it was tough not to do the practice and try and get ready. Just was bad timing for the injury.

Q. Could you talk about that stretch, the hot stretch in the middle of the round there? Did something click? Just what was going on?
SEAN O'HAIR: I started off the round just making -- I think I made six straight pars, you know, hit it nicely, had a couple putts that were right around the edge. I think I just continued to stay patient out there, you know, because Jim was playing great and Retief was playing great, so it was very easy for me to kind of say, hey, I've got to get this thing going.
I just stayed patient and continued to hit the ball well and hit a couple shots tight and made some birdies, and I think I made -- what did I shoot, 3-under on the front? But I got on a nice little run there and just -- this golf course just has a nice flow to it where you've got a nice stretch of holes kind of in the middle of the golf course that are a lot of birdie holes out there. I think if you just give yourself some opportunities and make some putts, all of a sudden you're 5-, 6-, 7-under par.

Q. What are your memories I believe it was two years you spent traveling around New England in the summer?
SEAN O'HAIR: Some of Jackie and I's best memories were playing the New England Tour. We had a lot of fun traveling. I wasn't used to playing on a Tour, and so it was nice to kind of get to know some guys that could play and that competition. We got some confidence because I played really well. I don't think I missed a cut on those two years.
You know, we had a motor home and we were traveling around. At the time we had no kids but we had a big, fat lab that was like a kid, and we just kind of were trying to live week to week, really. But I think those times kind of make this pretty sweet.

Q. You mentioned those other two players out there with you. How much does it help you when Goosen and Furyk are playing so well?
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, it can either help you or it can really hurt you. You know, if you get impatient out there, it can actually be a detriment. But with the attitude I had out there the last couple days, it just was nice because everybody was playing well, and it just kind of -- we fed off each other.
So it's just a lot of fun. I think we were like 34 under par for two days, so it was a lot of fun to be in kind of that situation.

Q. Talking to your caddie Paul outside, he mentioned you've got six of your last ten rounds without a birdie. How does it feel when all of a sudden they start coming in bunches?
SEAN O'HAIR: I thought I'd never make a birdie again, to be honest with you. (Laughter.)
It was a tough stretch. It just was a tough stretch. You know, I was hitting the ball well some days, like PGA Championship I hit the ball really well for three days and just didn't make a thing, finished at the bottom of the field.
I just think when you're not putting and you're hitting the ball well, you just continue to put more pressure and more pressure and more pressure, and then all of a sudden the ball-striking goes awry and here come the big numbers. I shot 82 third round of the PGA Championship, and then I shot two 6-over pars which I don't think I've ever done in my career on the PGA TOUR, last week, and it's just all because of putting.
Yesterday when I started seeing some putts go in, I said a little prayer of thanks and then just kind of started trusting it out there.
It's a huge relief to start seeing them going in and start playing good again.

Q. Were you second-guessing yourself at all about your club or just the way you struck that chip, the short chip that you flubbed?
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, I hit a nice drive and it kind of fumbled in the rough there, which isn't a big deal. But you just know with the greens as firm as they are, it was going to be tough to hold that green. I hit a good shot there and got to the back of the green, saw it sitting down. It just was really one of those lies that you had some pretty thick rough that was all matted down from people walking around so you've kind of got some gnarly lies.
I just felt like hitting a 5-wood was the right play. I just thought if I could just pop it, it would just jump over the rough and kind of feed down there. I just think it was the wrong club. I hit it the way I wanted to, and right off the getgo, it just caught the rough right in front of me. It didn't jump up. I was expecting it to jump up, and it just almost went downward. I think I just made the wrong decision there.

Q. You've had five birdies through eight rounds, and you missed the cut at the Barclays. In the last two rounds you've gone 12-under, including the eagle today. So what's been the real difference?
SEAN O'HAIR: Really just the putting. You know, I think last week I wasn't hitting it close -- to give my putting a break. I wasn't hitting it close at all to give myself realistic chances at birdie. I think after seeing those greens last week, they were kind of just like almost Mickey Mouse a little bit. I'm sorry to say that, but they were.
So I think this week I'm just hitting it a lot closer. I told Paul, I said, this week we've just got to start dialing in the wedges again on the par-5s. Instead of hitting it in the gungy, I need to start hitting some fairways. And I've done that, and I've rolled it nicely. I'm giving the putter more chances, and I think when you give yourself more chances, you're going to start making some.
And then after seeing them going in yesterday, I was very confident on the greens today. I just feel very comfortable now with it.

Q. Going back to the New England Tour days, would it be a fair statement to say that after all those years of chasing Monday qualifiers with mixed results that that's where you learned sort of how to play four days of tournament golf and remembered how to win again?
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah. Basically the three years that I spent just chasing the Monday qualifiers did absolutely nothing. I actually think it hurt me. You know, when you're missing cuts and basically all you're doing is spending your time on the range, or I should say missing the qualifiers, you're only playing one round of competitive golf, and it's really not competitive golf.
When I was out on the New England Tour, I was playing three days and there was a cut, and all of a sudden it was like, okay, instead of having to go out there and shoot 6-, 7-, 8-under par, it was like, okay, 2-under par is a nice score, and even even par is a nice score. I just think playing against guys who you watch your swings and you're saying, how in the world do they get it airborne and they're just beating you up and down the golf course, they're just killing you, you just learn all of a sudden, hey, it's not about the golf swing anymore, it's about getting the ball in the hole.
I played with a lot of good players out there, and I think a lot of them taught me how to play, and it just was nice to kind of be in a situation where you're on a Tour, and every round means something. It's not like, okay, I didn't make it, so I've got a whole week of doing absolutely nothing. Plus I made a little bit of money, which was nice.
MARK WILLIAMS: We appreciate you coming in, Sean. Keep the good play going, and all the best.

End of FastScripts

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