Cleveland Star O’Hair Just Misses Cut in Nationwide Event
Clutch 2^nd round rally leaves him 1 shot out of weekend
June 25 by Dominic Dastoli

           Findley Lake, NY-While many Cleveland Golf Tour players headed to the Mass Open following last week’s Vermont National Open, Sean O’Hair hopped in his mobile home and drove roughly six hours to the southwest corner of New York to try and gain a spot in this week’s Lake Erie Charity Classic on the Nationwide Tour.

           First, he advanced through Monday Qualifying, the ultimate golfing crapshoot which usually consists of over 130 players competing for a handful of spots into the actual tournament. Then he birdied his final two holes on Friday to apparently sneak in one shot underneath the two day cut of 2-over par. Or so it seemed. As more than a third of the field completed the second round, the cut line suddenly fell to even par, leaving him on the outside looking in.

       O’Hair began the day at 3-over par following a disappointing opening round of 75, his highest round in over three weeks. After playing his first nine holes even par in the second round, though, he suddenly rediscovered the form that has earned him more than $18,000 in his last three tournaments. Birdies at 14, 17, and 18 gave him a second round of 1-under 71 and a two day total of 146, leaving him in good shape to survive the weekend.  As so often happens on the second day of any tournament, though, the cut line fluctuated as the field completed play.

       For the tournament, O’Hair recorded 10 birdies. Two costly double bogies, one in each round, proved to be just too much to overcome. His performance marks the second time in as many weeks that a Cleveland star has qualified for a Nationwide Tour event, following Eli Zackheim’s appearance in the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic.