A great time was had by all supporting John and taking it all in at the PGA at Southern Hills in Tulsa. This was the ninth major championship I have attended over the years and I have to say there is absolutely nothing like the excitment and the drama of hanging on the edge with every shot following the announcement…”on the tee from Reston Virginia, John O’Leary”. Numb with anticipation, facing straight into the mid day sun we barely noticed it was about 105 degrees and we were sticking to the green paint on the bleachers. No problem for John, as the applause died down he fired his drive down the middle over 300 yards and we were rushing from our seats trying to outmanuever Camilo’s bevy of beauties for a spot on the ropes.
This was day two, we were tied for 85th with the best golfers in the world and hoping to make it to the weekend. But more importantly we all just wanted John to do his best and be able hold his head high during his shot of a lifetime. The week so far had been nothing short of incredible for any dedicated golf junky. On the range next to Tiger, practice rounds with Goosen, DiMarco (finished the tournament tied with John), Wetterich and Curtis and some funny encounters along the way with Ernie and Sergio (Sergio is taking a beating but John likes him a lot and says he is one of the nicest guys out there).
Thursday featured too much time in the rough with only 5 fairways hit, but six up and downs, 5 of which could make any highlight playback and left Villegas smiling and shaking his head in disbelief. Friday we knew would be better as John took dead aim on his short iron on the first hole and fired straight at the pin that was in the back right corner - one hop and the ball bounced into the gallery as fans scattered behind the green - Team O’Leary softly uttered a collective “oh sh…..t here we go again!” No problem. After clearing all the fans (the Tiger gallery was gathering as he was only a few groups back) and taking a couple practice swings to get used to the deep bermuda rough John lofted it high into the air, landing it softly 6 feet short of the hole and for a second it looked like it was dead in the hole and a thousand fans let out a groan as it rolled over the right side of the cup. John rolled in the five footer and we were off again. A good drive on the 488 yard second left John with a six iron to the green and he stuck it about 15 feet. Camilo, hitting one of his few drivers (or did he hit 3 wood?) was about 20 yards past John and put it a few feet inside him. We left # 2 with one our few easy pars and breathed a sigh of relief as it appeared that the driver was working today. Unfortunately John 3 putted the difficult third green, stuck it close on 4 and 5 and we hoped for a birdie but they didn’t drop. Perhaps too much adrenaline as John knocked it over the next two greens and the string of amazing recoveries appeared to have run its course as he registered two bogies to get to eight over. At this point the projected cut was plus 6 so concern was growing as John and Camilo both put it in the bunker on the 245 yard par 3 eighth. The balls stopped in the front of the bunker about 80 feet short of the back left pin placement. It was uphill for the first 60 feet and then leveled out and sloped away. Camilo played first hitting a great shot that looked dead but continued to roll away stopping over 10 feet past. John followed blasting his ball high in the air to get it to land soft and it stopped within two feet of the hole as the gallery cheered. Pumped up he hit it over 300 yeards down the middle on 9 as you could hear Tiger’s gallery roaring two holes away as he was beginning his attack on the record book. John went right at it over the bunker on 9 stopping it 8 feet from the hole. He lipped it out on the right. Still looking for the elusive birdie to turn things around he landed his second to the 10th green within 4 inches of the cup and it rolled left to about 8 feet. As he walked onto the green to mark his ball wild looking, long ball Charley Hoffman landed his tee shot in the right bunker from back on the tee 366 yeards away - 30 feet to the left and it would have hit John right in the back. I admit I took a little joy as I watched him a few minutes later knock it out of the bunker over the green into the left front bunker as he buried his club into the sand. Again John’s putt failed to drop but the pars were looking easy as he hit his shot on the par three 11th to about 18 feet - drat, missed again. Things got a little rough for a while as John missed left on 12 and hit a great downhill pitch from the rough that almost went in for par as he saved bogie. Par on the next followed by a bogie from the sand on the 223 yard par three 14th.
At this point in our day David Feherty was with us as he was covering Villegas as he had moved to 3 under earlier and looked like he might go into the lead before Tiger took over. John caught the right rough off the tee on the 413 yeard 15th with his iron. He tried to hack it out but it squirted right catching a low hanging limb. After a search with the whole gallery pointing to where they thought it was they found it and John had to bend down low to see it and identify it. Still over 100 yards away deep in the crap it looked like he was facing another bogey when he managed to run it between the bunkers onto the green about 20 feet past the hole. The golf gods smiled from above as John made his longest putt of the two days to save par. Team O’Leary again had something to cheer about with the cut now out of reach and one Tiger roar after another electrifying Sothern Hills. David Feherty came over to John for a hilarious exchange as he inquired about John’s logo on his shirt - Mulligan’s Pub. Although John is compensated by Callaway for the clubs, bag and hat, the shirt belonged to his friend Jay’s Irish pub in Orlando FL. Probably the only Irish pub on the planet managed by an Englishman, Huey. Along with Mickey they had made the trip to Tulsa and were important players on our team. I won’t repeat what Feherty said on line as there is no telling where these emails end up and I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but if you follow Feherty, including some of his life challenges you can probably make the connection.
Sixteen is a 505 yard uphill par 4 that only the pros can play. John, Camilo and Marcus Brier, who had briefly led on Thursday but was now struggling to make the cut all hit what appeared to be very strong drives up the left side of the fairway. Into the upslope about 275 out there is a sharp rise that kicks everything to the left. We left the tee feeling good only to find that John’s ball had kicked hard left and came to rest 6 inches into the rough - once again, almost unplayable. He hacked it out but it ran through the fairway stopping 3 inches into the rough 40 yards short of the green - once again a horrible lie that he was able to hack onto the front of the green - 3 putts later in front of two hugh bleachers full of thousands of fans with Ernie Els on the other green only a few feet away. Ernie stepped back from his putt to let John go first for bogey but it was not to be - the dreaded double bogey with two difficult holes ahead to get to the clubhouse. (Did I mention it was about 106 at this point - at least Carie and Tim looked cool.)
On Thursday John had tried to lay up on 17 as most players do unless you are John Daly, but his well hit hybrid kicked hard left ending up in the rough with no chance to reach the green from 130 yards. It is interesting to note that Brier hit after John then and hooked it violently into the trees thirty yards left of John. I walked over to his ball - he had a clear shot to the green from a perfect lie and hit it three feet to move to into a tie for the early lead.
With memories of Thursday and the eighteenth hole ahead (the hole Sam Snead called the hardest hole in golf) you had the feeling you just wanted to get to the clubhouse without further bad news. At that point throwing all caution to the wind John pulled out driver and lined it 300 yards down the middle, nearly 100 yards passed Camilo who hit his “stinger” iron. Villegas stuck it 8 feet behind the hole and moments later John put his within inches of his - incredibly they both left it on the right lip. Hardest hole coming up and John saved the best drive for last - long and perfect - 80 yards past Brier and Villegas who both opted for safety. Camillo hooked his ball left of the green catching the hill and didn’t stop until he was 40 yeards from the hole. Brier hit it right and it rolled back down 30 yards off the front. We ran ahead to cheer John in and noticed as we reached the top of the hill that the wind at the top was strong into their face, the pin on the very back edge and probably a couple hundred foot hill to climb. I turned to Carie and Tim and said, he’ll never hit enough club to get to that pin. Moments later the ball started climbing and climbing straight at the flag landing in the middle and stopping fourteen feet away - what a final shot! Alas the putt stopped on the lip - just another easy par.
John worked his magic after to get our whole gang into the players bar and restaurant in the clubhouse above the 18th green and we cooled down with some beers, toasted John and sat with Fred Funk (finished with the same score a John) and Darren Clarke (he was all smiles as he had just shot 66 after an opening 79) to await Tiger’s final putt in his assault on the golf history book. It was a bit surreal as the putt lipped out in real time while all the delayed TV screens showed him just pulling the putter back. We hung out for a while longer, just long enough for Carie to run smack into Tiger in the clubhouse and hold the door for John Daly and Rich Beem.
Later that night we all went off to PF Changs for dinner (the same one Camilo said he took his date to the night before - she walked with our team for the two days). The pain of the missed cut was fading as our table of 15 toasted John again and we talked about the adventures of the week. In the end it was all about family, John’s immediate family led by proud Mom and Dad along with the extended family from Virginia, Delaware and Orlando, Florida. John had lots of support from constant phone calls from home from sister Katie, Uncle Curt, Tommy, Chris, Scott and Ruth and dozens of phone calls and emails from across the country. Lake Nona had someone else to cheer for beside the big names and the John O’Leary Golf Academy was well represented including students and instructor and friend Butch Catone.
We ended the evening with a speech from John and his caddie Ricky (also an aspiring pro from Portrush, Ireland). John kept it short and simple as you might expect thanking everyone for the support and telling us how great was his week of many fulfilled dreams. And he invited us all back to join him at Oakland Hills next year for the 90th PGA Championship. Ricky was very eloquent as well, although I confess to still having a hard time understanding the Irish.
One footnote beside the heat was the fact that we were at a hotel with many of the pros and their families. KJ Choi, Geoff Oglive and Stephen Ames were at breakfast with us in the morning. We really enjoyed spending time with Chip Sullivan, the National Club Pro Championship winner from Virginia - a great guy and good friend of Steve Madsen from our home course. I mentioned to Chip that KJ reminded me of Odd Job, Goldfinger’s Asian bodyguard from the Bond film. He laughed, agreed and said he was not going to get that out of his head all day. I hope it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that he shot 80.
Cleary John’s performance at the National Pro Championship and the PGA affirmed the fact that his game has advanced to a higher level. His skill around the green appears almost magical at times and he is normally a great driver. Although he spent some time in the rough at Southern Hills it typically was a result of running through fairways at the corner of doglegs - you can see why so many players opted to keep driver in the bag. John never hit it a ball completely off line and he always nails his short irons tight to the pin. A few breaks or putts to drop and John would be playing this weekend. I, for one, and his family and fans know that there will be weekends in the future. See you at the 2008 PGA.
To view photos provided by John’s family & friends go to: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2hr5erx5.b6lsan3d&x=0&y=gp98s & http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hikugj9.6fohs81p&x=1&y=pa13ub