O’Hair Wins Canadian Open

29-year-old Sean O’Hair fired a 2-under 68 on Sunday to come from three strokes behind the 54-hole leader and finish regulation play at the RBC Canadian Open tied for the lead with Kris Blanks. O’Hair defeated Blanks with a bogey five on the first playoff hole.  O’Hair won his first playoff on the PGA TOUR.  O’Hair’s fourth PGA TOUR victory came 46 starts after winning the 2009 Wells Fargo Championship.  O’Hair moved from No. 147 to No. 43 in the FedExCup standings.  O’Hair becomes the 11th player in his 20s to win on TOUR this season.  This was O’Hair’s 18th start of the season. He’s made eight cuts with four top-25 finishes. His previous best showing this season came at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial where he finished T16.  Since joining the TOUR in 2005, O’Hair has never had less than six top-25 finishes a year.  O’Hair won in his sixth start at the RBC Canadian Open. His previous best performances came in 2008 and 2006 where he finished T3 and solo third.

With the victory at the RBC Canadian Open, Sean O’Hair earns 500 FedExCup points and moves to 43rd in the FedExCup standings. The top 125 players in the standings earn their way into the first leg of the Playoffs for the FedExCup. The top 30 players through the first three rounds of the Playoffs for the FedExCup earn their way into the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola.

This is the 12th playoff of the season.

39-year-old Kris Blanks, who was the first-round leader, posted a 1-under 69 in the final round of the

RBC Canadian to finish regulation play tied with Sean O’Hair. Blanks made a double-bogey six on the first playoff hole to finish second.  Blanks made his 23rd start of the season this week. He’s made 12 cuts with four top-25s. Blanks previous best finish of the season was T10 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.  Blanks moved from No. 116 to No. 54 in the FedExCup standings.  Blanks led the field in Greens in Regulation by hitting 51 of 72.  Blanks equaled his previous best career finish, second, at the 2010 Puerto Rico Open.  Blanks’ runner-up finish came in his second start at the RBC Canadian Open. He missed the cut in 2009 with rounds of 75-69.

30-year-old Andres Romero carded an even-par 70 in the final round to finish one stroke behind Kris Blanks and Sean O’Hair.  Romero moved from 108th in the FedExCup standings to No. 68.  Romero has made 12 of 17 cuts this season with three top-10 finishes. His third place performance is his best of the season.

34-year-old Geoff Ogilvy carded an even-par 70 in the final round to finish T4, two strokes behind the winner.  Ogilvy has made nine of 15 cuts with three top-10 finishes. He matched his best finish of the season, T4, at the Masters.  Ogilvy moved from No. 86 to No. 65 in the FedExCup standings.

23-year-old Adam Hadwin carded a 2-over 72 on Sunday to finish T4, two strokes behind Blanks and O’Hair.  Hadwin was looking to become just the fifth Canadian to win the RBC Canadian Open, the third oldest championship in golf.  Hadwin was making just his third start on the PGA TOUR. He has taken advantage of all three starts, finishing 37th (top Canadian) in last year’s RBC Canadian Open, T39 at the 2011 U.S. Open and T4 this week (top Canadian).  Hadwin’s top-10 finish earns him a spot in next week’s Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.

Luke Donald, No. 5 in the FedExCup standings, posted a 3-under 67 on Sunday to finish T17. The Englishman began the final-round T45.

Ernie Els, who moved to 131st in the FedExCup standings, posted the low round of the day, 66, to finish T17.

There were zero bogey-free rounds this week. The fewest bogey-free rounds in a single tournament on TOUR this season entering the RBC Canadian Open were three at the British Open in the first round (Webb Simpson/66, Larrazabal Pablo/68 and Miguel Angel Jimenez/66). The last time there were no bogey-free rounds in an event was the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. The last non-major to have no bogey-free rounds was THE PLAYERS in 2008.

Final-Round Leaderboard
Sean O’Hair 276 (-4)
Kris Blanks 276 (-4)
Andres Romero 277 (-3)
Geoff Ogilvy 278 (-2)
Adam Hadwin 278 (-2)