He may not be Mine That Bird, but Sean O'Hair was definitely not the expected player to emerge as champion of the Quail Hollow Championship on Sunday.  (I SO wanted to type Wachovia there.)  Most would have probably guessed Tiger Woods, Zach Johnson, and Lucas Glover - in that order - as being the most likely contenders for the trophy. 

Even after that, I would have expected someone would think Bubba Watson would be even more likely, or a Phil Mickelson Masters-front-nine-esque charge to the top.

Basically, given that O'Hair has consistently proven how tough of a time he has in shutting the down on tournaments, it seemed logical to discount him.  The kid has a ton of game, but for him to win a championship seems so awkward for him.

He shot 69 in the final round to secure his first PGA Tour win of the season.  He is striving for two wins this year.  With the way he accomplished it, though, he might suffer an aneurysm doing it.

O'Hair began the scoring with a bogey at four.  He birdied half of the next twelve holes to get himself into what should be cruise control.  Approaching the final two, very difficult holes at Quail Hollow must have given him the shivers.  At least he was not paired with Tiger Woods, who probably has permanent spook power over him after Bay Hill.

Sporting a weak grasp of the tournament after the bogey on 17, O'Hair creamed a 3 wood over 300 yards and put a short iron to 25 feet.  Two putts for a win.  He jacked the 25 foot putt almost seven feet by.  He missed the comebacker for par and it almost seemed like O'Hair wanted to give the thing away to Lucas Glover.

Fortunately for O'Hair, Glover has not turned out to show the same promise that everyone thought he had several seasons ago.  A bogey at 17 left Glover with only the prospect of a playoff with a birdie three at the last.  Given that the hole yielded only 35 birdies all week, that was a near impossible task. 

O'Hair played good enough to win, but his competition also played good enough to lose.  The combination worked to give O'Hair his most importatn PGA Tour win.

What does that mean for O'Hair?  The chatter all of a sudden began on Golf Channel about O'Hair being in the upper echelon of young players.  Perhaps he already was in the same way that Charles Howell III continually finds his way into contention.  Actually, with the win on Sunday, O'Hair passed Howell III with three career Tour wins.  Maybe, too, the win can catapult O'Hair to a stronger mental game that will be required if he is to be a top tier player for years to come.