Quail Hollow Championship: Final-round notebook

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Lucas Glover birdied his first six holes, and nine of his first 10 holes, on Sunday en route to a closing 71.
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May. 3, 2009
By John Bush, PGA TOUR Staff

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Making his 122nd career PGA TOUR start, Sean O'Hair posted a 3-under 69 on Sunday to finish the Quail Hollow Championship at 11-under 277, one stroke ahead of Bubba Watson (70) and Lucas Glover (71). It is the third victory of O'Hair's career (2005 John Deere Classic, 2008 PODS Championship).

Inside the Numbers
Final Leaderboard
Player Score
1. Sean O'Hair 277 -11
T2. Bubba Watson 278 -10
T2. Lucas Glover 278 -10
4. Tiger Woods 279 -9
T5. Jonathan Byrd 280 -8
T5. Phil Mickelson 280 -8
T5. Tim Petrovic 280 -8
T5. Ted Purdy 280 -8
T5. Ian Poulter 280 -8
T5. Jason Dufner 280 -8

• With the victory, O'Hair collects 500 FedExCup points and moves to No. 3 on the list, with 1,336 points. Geoff Ogilvy (1,387) maintains the top spot for the 10th consecutive week, followed closely by Phil Mickelson (1,363 points).

• O'Hair's victory comes in his fourth start at the Quail Hollow Championship, with two made cuts (tied for 64th in 2005, won in 2009). In 2009, he has posted nine made cuts in 10 starts, with six top-10 finishes (win at Quail Hollow Championship, second at Arnold Palmer Invitational, fourth at Mercedes-Benz Championship, tied for fifth at World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, tied for 10th at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Masters).

• O'Hair is one of seven United States natives under the age of 30 with multiple PGA TOUR victories, and is now the first under the age of 30 with three wins. The others with two wins are J.B. Holmes, D.J. Trahan, Anthony Kim, Nick Watney, Charles Howell III and Dustin Johnson. Sergio Garcia of Spain and Adam Scott of Australia are also in the under-30 club of players with three or more PGA TOUR wins.

• Prior to Zach Johnson failing to convert the 54-hole lead on Sunday, the last event with a come-from-behind winner was the Arnold Palmer Invitational, when O'Hair succumbed to a Tiger Woods comeback.

• • The third-round leader/co-leader has won 14 of 18 events (78 percent) on the PGA TOUR this season. Last year, the third-round leader/co-leader only won 22 of 46 events (48 percent). The four players who have come from behind to win this season are Nick Watney at the Buick Invitational, Retief Goosen at the Transitions Championship, Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and now Sean O'Hair.

• The runner-up finish for Glover is the first of his career and comes in his 163rd career start. He has one career win (2005 Children's Miracle Network Classic) and two third-place finishes (2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 2009 Buick Invitational).

• Watson has posted all three of his runner-up finishes in consecutive seasons (2007 Shell Houston Open, 2008 Buick Open, 2009 Quail Hollow Championship).

• Johnson, who entered the final round with a two-stroke lead, struggled to a 4-over 76 on Sunday to finish tied for 11th. It marks the first time he has failed to convert a 54-hole stroke-play lead into victory (2009 Sony Open in Hawaii, 2004 BellSouth Classic). Johnson also held the third-round lead in 2006 at The International (Stableford format), but finished tied for 13th.

• In seven years of the Quail Hollow Championship, the third-round leader has gone on to victory three times (David Toms in 2003, Jim Furyk in 2006 and Anthony Kim in 2008). Prior to Sunday, the third-round leader/co-leader at this event had not finished worse than tied for third (Rory Sabbatini in 2007).

• Woods has now trailed by two strokes after 54 holes 18 times in his career. In those events, he has won six times, most recently at the 2007 Buick Invitational. Just once has he finished outside the top five in those events (13th-2005 Northern Trust Open). This week he posted a fourth-place effort.

• Phil Mickelson has now posted five top-12 finishes in six starts at the Quail Hollow Championship (tied for fifth in 2004, tied for seventh in 2005, tied for third in 2007, tied for 12th in 2008, tied for fifth in 2009). Mickelson's inability to win here can perhaps be attributed to his performance on Quail Hollow's "Green Mile" -- the nickname of the club's final three holes. In 24 rounds, Mickelson is a combined 57-under on Quail Hollow's first 15 holes, but 23-over on the final three. This week, he played the first 15 holes at 11-under, but just 3-over on the final three holes.

• Among the past champions in the field this week, Woods (2007) finished fourth, Furyk (2006) tied for 11th, Toms (2003) tied for 18th, Kim (2008) tied for 47th, and Vijay Singh (2005) missed the cut.

Jonathan Byrd (tied for fifth) and Shaun Micheel (tied for 18th) posted the rounds of the day with matching 6-under 66s. Ben Curtis holds the lowest final-round score in tournament history with a 7-under 65 in 2008.

Robert Allenby (Nos. 5, 7) and Steven Wheatcroft (Nos. 7, 15) became the fifth and sixth players in Quail Hollow Championship history to post two eagles in a round. The others on the list include Jeff Maggert (2004), Mathias Gronberg (2004), Vaughn Taylor (2004, 2005) and Adam Scott (2006).

• In the first six years of the Quail Hollow, just 15 players had posted under-par rounds in all four rounds of the Quail Hollow Championship, but seven players performed the feat this year. The list includes Glover, Tim Petrovic, Ian Poulter, Jason Dufner, Fredrik Jacobson, Martin Kaymer and Charles Warren.

Jonathan Kaye and Kent Jones both finished tied for 53rd in their 300th career start on the PGA TOUR. Jones has now made and missed the same number of cuts (149) in his career, with two withdrawals.

• Geoff Ogilvy finished tied for 32nd in his 200th career start on TOUR.

• With his tie for fifth, Phil Mickelson joins Singh with a Quail Hollow Championship-best four top-10 finishes. Furyk (tied for 11th) barely failed in his attempt to join that group.

• Kim finished tied for 47th this week in his title defense. Joey Sindelar holds the best finish by a defending champion with a tie for 33rd effort in 2005.

• New Zealander Danny Lee finished tied for 38th this week after making his first cut on the PGA TOUR as a professional. Lee's best finish on TOUR came as an amateur with a tie for 20th at the 2008 Wyndham Championship.

• Three former Clemson standouts finished inside the top 20 this week, including Glover (tied for second), Byrd (tied for fifth) and Charles Warren (tied for 18th), with the latter making the best of his sponsor's invitation.

• There were no bogey-free rounds on Sunday.

• The scoring average for the week at the par-72 Quail Hollow Club was 72.420. The daily averages were 72.176 on Thursday, 72.775 on Friday, 72.432 on Saturday and 72.189 on Sunday.

• O'Hair earned his third career victory on the PGA TOUR in his 122nd start at the age of 26 years, 9 months, 22 days. He also earned a two-year exemption that will take him through the 2011 season, as well as exemptions into several events including the 2009 PGA Championship, 2009 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and 2010 Mercedes-Benz Championship. He was already exempt for 2010 Masters thanks to his tie for 10th at Augusta National last month.

• While O'Hair bogeyed Nos. 17-18 in the final round, he finished even-par on "The Green Mile," Nos. 16-18, over the 72 holes.

• O'Hair is now tied with Kenny Perry for most top-10s on the PGA TOUR in 2009 with six, and he moved into fourth in United States Presidents Cup standings with 8,818,189 points.

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