A Tale of Two Schools:

O’Hair PGA Tour Bound, Gallo headed for Nationwide

December 6^th by Dominic Dastoli

            La Quinta, CA-Two months ago, Sean O’Hair (Aston, PA) and Kyle Gallo (Kensington, CT) were battling against one another in the final event of the Cleveland Golf Tour season. Since then, each went there separate ways in pursuit of a common goal: a career jump to either the PGA or Nationwide Tour’s.

            Gallo’s march through qualifying school began in Bogart, Georgia, where he easily advanced to the second stage. In November, he trekked to McKinney, Texas and secured one of 19 spots into the third and final stage.

            O’Hair, meanwhile, took a decidedly different route. In October, he survived his first stage test in Rio Rico, Arizona. In California two weeks later, at a site littered with high profile names and his season long foil, Geoff Sisk, he carded a clutch final round 71 to eek into the final stage on the number.

            Reunited at the final stage in La Quinta, California, the duo showcased their games on a stage typically reserved for the big boys, players such as Bill Glasson, who has seven career PGA Tour titles to his credit, and Bill Haas, who nearly secured his PGA Tour card this year in limited sponsor exemptions and is the son of the timeless Jay Haas.

Lesser known players were an afterthought to the so-called prognosticators, who attempted to predict who would earn their cards based on previous successes and proven pedigrees.

            But as Gallo and O’Hair proved in relative obscurity all summer long en route to winning five times in New England and racking up over $100,000 combined, they don’t need notoriety or the fame. They just need an opportunity to prove they are just as talented as anyone else.

            Despite their starkly different routes to qualifying school, Gallo and O’Hair maintained a similar position near the top of the leader board for much of the six-round finale, perhaps comforted by a familiar name and face.  When qualifying school began, over 1,200 competitors had hopes of making it to the final stage. Now, only 170 remained. With five rounds in the books, ironically, Gallo and O’Hair, each of whom stood tied for 17^th at 8-under par, were paired together for the Monday’s final round.

            Gallo, riding high after a fifth round 6-under 66 at the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course propelled him into the hunt, started inauspiciously, bogeying three of his first four holes. He responded immediately with a birdie at the par five, 5^th hole and then went on a par binge until recording a costly bogey at the par four, 14^th hole to fall back to 5-under par.

            With the PGA Tour cut line expected to fall at 7-under, Gallo, a three-time Connecticut Open Champion, needed to make a move. A timely birdie at the par five, 16^th hole helped his cause, but a par at the next hole left his PGA Tour aspirations hinging on a much needed birdie on the difficult par 4, 18^th hole at the PGA West’s Stadium Course.

            With his heart no doubt in his throat, Gallo stepped up to his tee shot, trying to avoid the precarious lake on the left and the rough that lingered on the right. Undaunted, he smoked his drive right down the middle. Faced with a mid-iron to the well-guarded green, Gallo then pushed his approach, leaving himself about a right-to-left 30 footer for the biggest birdie of his career.

            He’s made similar putts hundreds of times before. This time it just wasn’t to be, as he just missed low left. After a valiant effort, he settled for full-time status on the 2005 Nationwide Tour. Not a bad consolation prize.

            O’Hair, a puppy at 22 compared to players such as 46-year-old Dan Forsman, entered the final day one of just a handful of players who had yet to shoot a round over par.  Despite his youth, he had made five prior qualifying school appearances, although this marked the first time he reached the pressure-packed final stage.

            Despite the fact that he began the day within the PGA Tour cut line, even O’Hair had to be weary of what to expect from his game. Would he light it up, like he did when he fired a course record 62 to win the Sterling Open in August? Or would he struggle, like he did when he shot a 71 in the final round of the Nevele Grande Open to lose to former PGA Tour member Geoff Sisk by six shots? 

            Well, any doubts about how he would perform were erased early on, as O’Hair came out guns ablaze, holing out for an eagle two at the first and adding a birdie for good measure on the par four, 2^nd hole to get to 11-under overall.

From there, he put his game in cruise control, offsetting two bogeys with three birdies to finish the biggest pressure cooker in golf in a tie for 4^th at 12-under par, earning a cool $30,000 in the process.          

            To say it’s been a long road to the PGA tour for O’Hair would be an understatement. Having dropped out of high school to turn professional at the age of 17, he spent three years chasing around Monday qualifiers on the PGA and Nationwide Tours, with marginal success, at best.

            In need of more regular competition, O’Hair joined the Cleveland circuit in 2003. At the tender age of 20, competitors nearly twice his age watched in awe as O’Hair routinely outperformed them en route to winning once and finishing third on the money list.

            After a disappointing performance in the 2003 qualifying school that ended prematurely with two double-bogeys in his final four holes to miss advancing to the final stage by three shots, he rejoined the Cleveland Golf Tour in 2004 determined to learn from his mistakes.

            Early on, he showed signs of his former self. In the season opening Atkinson Open, he bogeyed the 18^th hole to lose by one. A month later, he double-bogeyed the 17^th hole at Lebaron Hills to lose by two shots. Despite the miscues, he appeared headed in the right direction, as witnessed by his unmatched consistency (a tour best nine top 10’s in 10 events) and his uncanny ability to go low (64-66 finish to win the Vermont Open and the 62 to win in Sterling).

            A disciple of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, he will now test his free flowing swing and saucy putting stroke on a grander stage that offers world class competition, high purses, and cozy complimentary rental cars.

            Kyle Gallo, fully exempt on the Nationwide Tour in ’05, will also be living a similarly charmed life.

            But for these two Cleveland Golf Tour graduates, none of those extravagances can match the thrill of proving they are just as skilled as the big boys. Now that’s an opportunity.