Date: May 04, 2009
Author: PA Sport

O’Hair holds on

Sean O&aposHair almost let another tournament slip through his fingers before winning the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte. O&aposHair, who was overhauled by Tiger Woods in the Bay Hill Invitational earlier this season after starting the final round with a five-shot lead, carded a closing 69 to finish 11-under for a one-shot victory over fellow Americans Lucas Glover and Bubba Watson. O&aposHair held a two-shot lead with two to play after superb birdies at the 15th and 16th, but then bogeyed the 17th and 18th, three-putting the latter from 25ft. However, in the group behind, Glover also missed the 17th green in almost the exact same spot as O&aposHair had and also failed to get up and down to save par. That left Glover needing to birdie the last to force a play-off but he overshot the green with his approach and could not produce the dramatic chip-in required. “It feels so good, especially finishing the way I did,” said O&aposHair. “I played so good on the back nine and it&aposs a great feeling.” Tiger Woods finished alone in fourth place on nine-under, the world No.1 never hitting top form and carding nine pars on the back nine, including on the 14th after driving the green on the short par four only to three-putt. “It was one of those weird weeks,” said Woods, who led by two shots after an opening 65. “I didn&apost feel comfortable with my swing today.” Geoff Ogilvy (73) and John Senden (69) finished in a tie for 32nd at three-under, with Mathew Goggin finishing a consistent tournament with his third 71 of the week. Kiwi Danny Lee had a disappointing closing 76 to drop from equal-14th into a share of 38th place. Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter finished in a large group of players sharing fifth on eight-under-par after earlier threatening to claim his first US Tour victory. The 33-year-old, Europe&aposs top scorer at Valhalla last year, was one off the lead after five birdies in six birdies from the seventh, but bogeyed the 14th and 15th before finishing in a style with a long birdie across the 18th green. Phil Mickelson, needing a win and for Woods to finish worse than fourth to overtake his great rival at the top of the world rankings, had earlier set the clubhouse target on eight-under. Mickelson slumped to a 75 on Saturday but hit back with a 67 on Sunday with six birdies and one bogey to join fellow American Jonathan Byrd (66) in the clubhouse. After a delay of a little over an hour, the final two groups, including Johnson and McNeil, were able to complete their rounds, with McNeil joining Woods and Lucas Glover two off the lead. Meanwhile, former Ryder Cup player Thomas Levet dedicated victory to Seve Ballesteros after lifting the Spanish Open trophy in Girona. Levet fought off a succession of challenges to claim his fifth European Tour title – a record for a French player – by two strokes from Paraguay&aposs Fabrizio Zanotti. Two shots further back in joint third were Ireland&aposs Peter Lawrie, who had mounted a great bid to make the first successful defence since Max Faulkner in 1953, and Dane Thomas Bjorn. Ballesteros underwent four operations late last year after the discovery of a brain tumour and is still having chemotherapy. Aussie Matthew Millar finished at five-under, 13 shots behind the winner. And Tetsuji Hiratsuka shot a four-under 66 to complete a comfortable seven-stroke victory at The Crowns tournament in Nagoya. Final Round of the Quail Hollow Championship, Charlotte, N.C -11: Sean O&aposHair 69 72 67 69 -10: Lucas Glover 68 71 68 71, Bubba Watson 71 65 72 70 -9: Tiger Woods 65 72 70 72 -8: Jonathan Byrd 72 72 70 66, Jason Dufner 67 71 71 71, Phil Mickelson 67 71 75 67, Tim Petrovic 71 70 71 68, Ian Poulter 71 70 70 69, Ted Purdy 70 69 72 69 -7: Jim Furyk 71 66 73 71, Retief Goosen 68 68 72 73, Fredrik Jacobsen 71 70 70 70, Zach Johnson 70 67 68 76, Martin Kaymer 71 70 69 71, Boo Weekley 71 70 72 68, Y.E. Yang 72 71 66 72 -6: George McNeill 69 68 70 75, Shaun Micheel 74 69 73 66, David Toms 71 71 67 73, Charles Warren 69 71 71 71 Also: -3: Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 71 73 68 73, John Senden (Australia) 71 72 73 69 -1: Matthew Goggin (Australia) 71 71 74 71 E: Robert Allenby (Australia) 67 74 77 70 +5: Aron Price (Australia) 71 73 78 71 Final Round of the Spanish Open, Catalunya, Spain -18: Thomas Levet 64 67 71 68 -16: Fabrizio Zanotti 71 70 66 65 -14: Thomas Bjorn 70 67 71 66, Peter Lawrie 68 66 71 69 -10: Charl Schwartzel 67 73 69 69 -9: Rafael Cabrera-Bello 70 67 74 68, Marcel Siem 67 70 72 70 -8: Gregory Bourdy 71 71 72 66, David Horsey 72 70 72 66 -7: Stephen Dodd 69 69 69 74, Soren Hansen 63 70 76 72, Francesco Molinari 69 70 70 72, Jarmo Sandelin 66 75 69 71 -6: Stuart Davis 72 65 67 78, Oskar Henningsson 70 73 73 67 Also: -5: Matthew Millar (Australia) 69 75 71 68