O'Hair breaks drought by taming rough at Canadian Open

It was the fourth PGA Tour win for O'Hair, but his first since 2009 and his first top-15 this season.  In fact, prior to this weekend, he had missed 10 cuts out of 17 tournaments.  He admitted he was not playing well after Wednesdays Pro-Am and felt he had bottomed out.


"Wednesday night was my worst point of the whole year," O'Hair said. "I was lost on Wednesday. To be sitting here, I just really appreciate this win."

HADWIN MAKES NATION PROUD but fails to end cup drought

Playing on a sponsor's exemption the BC native finished with a 72 and tied with  Geoff Ogilvy for fourth at 2 under. One of only a handful of players to finish under par.  Hadwin is in his second year on the Canadian Tour.  His strong finish as Shaughnessy qualifies him for another PGA Tour start next week.

Americans make good showing at The Open - but still winless in last 7 majors

Phil Mickelson made his best showing at The Open Championship with a T2 with Dustin Johnson.  Chad Campbell finished T5 for one of his best results in a long time.  And Rickie Fowler and Anthony Kim proved they have what it takes to contend on Golfs biggest stages.  Oh, and don't forget Davis Love III who was fortunate to get into the tournament at all and finished T9.


But, it was sentimental favorite Darren Clarke who held fast and won comfortably by 2 strokes.  It was reminiscent of Tom Watson's run two years ago.  Obviously not as amazing as Clarke is only 42 years old, but no one older had accomplished the feat since 1967.


Two good days of weather, followed by two blustery days challenged every contender to play straight ahead golf and make the fewest mistakes at Royal St. George's devilish layout.  Clarke proved to everyone that he is a true links golfer, who has all the shots necessary to navigate the undulating fairways and massive greens.  

And he has made super agent Chubby Chandler a household name, given that he now boasts Clarke as well as Els, McIlroy, Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel as members of his stable.  Chandler actually was managing McDowell as well, but let him get away in 2007.  Whatever he's doing, it's working!!

Will this be the year for El Nino?

It hasn't been easy to cheer for Sergio Garcia over the years.  His petulance at press conferences, spitting into cups, constant re-gripping, blaming his misfortunes on the course, and his inability to close the deal at majors has forced many who followed the Spaniard over the years to wonder if (not when) he will ever live up to his promise in the big events.

He has come oh so close many times, with 2 runner up finishes and 16 top-tens in his 49 consecutive major appearances.  No one questions his ball striking ability - it is his putting that has prevented him from getting the job done. True, he won the Players and has wreaked havoc at The Ryder Cup events he has played in.  Those events are serious pressure situations, so it stands to reason that he should be able to eventually put it all together.  And, I think it's fair to say that The Open Championship is probably the one he covets the most.

So, I for one will be very interested to see if he can pull it off.