Rising Son

Finally freed from the influence of an overbearing father, Sean O'Hair is enjoying a suddenly sensational rookie season on the PGA Tour. If he gained anything from his difficult childhood, he says, it's that he learned how to handle big-time pressure.

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP) -- Sean O'Hair knew the question was coming. It always does, and by now he understands there is no avoiding it.

Forget, for a moment, that O'Hair is in the midst of a streak rookies dream of. In the last 30 days he won a PGA Tour tournament, played in his first major championship and was paired in the final round with Tiger Woods.

That's not what those gathered around him Wednesday outside the press tent at the PGA Championship wanted to talk about. They had seen plenty of good young players before him, heard enough stories about struggles on the road to the top.

They wanted another question answered.

So, Sean, how are things with your father?

For any other player, the question wouldn't have been out of the ordinary. But O'Hair's relationship with his father has been anything but ordinary.

Marc O'Hair doesn't communicate with his son, and he doesn't communicate much with the media, either. At least he didn't until the other day when he faxed a 17-page missive to various media outlets blaming the press for telling "one of the most prejudiced, one-sided stories in the history of sports.''

You would think Marc O'Hair would have reason to be a little happier.

The son he raised to become a professional golfer is the best young player on the PGA Tour. He's won nearly $2 million, is a shoo-in for rookie of the year, and shows signs at the tender age of 23 that he might be very good for a very long time.

That was always the plan as father and son bounced their way through mini-tours after Sean O'Hair quit high school to become a pro golfer at age 17. The two put 91,000 miles on a Ford Taurus, all with the goal of making the youngster good enough to play on the tour.

This isn't a warm fuzzy story, though.

Marc O'Hair had a business interest in his son, signing him to a contract guaranteeing him 10 percent of his earnings for life. He ran his life with military precision, getting him up early to run and sometimes having him run a mile after a round for every stroke he was over par.

"I was in a business for 20-plus years, and I know what it takes to make a profit. You've got the same old thing. It's material, labor and overhead,'' the father said in a "60 Minutes II'' interview three years ago. "He's pretty good labor.''

He was pretty good labor, that is, until he met Jackie Lucas, a junior golfer at Florida Atlantic University. They played together, then O'Hair took her out -- his first date -- and they spent hours talking on the phone.

On Dec. 28, 2002, they married. And that's the last time O'Hair spoke to his father.

The newlyweds spent the next two years traveling from golf course to golf course in a motor home while Sean played the Cleveland Tour. Some nights they spent in the parking lots of Wal-Marts, others on a side street because they couldn't park the motor home at the course.

Now, though, things were different. Instead of having to run after a bad round, he would come home to Jackie. The talent was always there, just waiting to blossom, and it finally did when he won a spot on the tour at qualifying school.

"Whenever you don't have the weight of the world on your shoulders, it's a lot easier to perform,'' O'Hair said.

At his first tournament in Hawaii, he was in awe after Ernie Els said hello to him in the locker room. But, with his wife's father on the bag, he made cut after cut, finishing second at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship before winning the John Deere Classic last month.

That got him a hastily arranged trip to the Open Championship, where he tied for 15th in his first major.

Now he's considered a contender wherever he goes because he understands pressure more than most golfers his age.

"I think I've always believed that I would make it on tour,'' O'Hair said. "I think there was always something inside me that knew I was going to be out here, but I think Jackie really made me realize that when she came into my life.''

O'Hair's a father himself now, with a daughter, 6-month-old Molly. Her childhood, he said, will be nothing like his own.

"Kids have to make their own decisions, even if it's the wrong decision,'' he said. "You need to keep it kind of fun for them and let them run their own show.''

O'Hair is doing just that for himself right now, and couldn't be happier. He's got a future that beckons brightly.

As for his father?

"I definitely think about my dad. I don't try to think about the hard times. You know he still is my dad and I love him and I always hope the best for him,'' O'Hair said. "But I have a different life now and it seems like so many years ago.

"I don't even really think about it.''

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.