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THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

September 24, 2009

Sean O'Hair

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

COLIN MURRAY: Sean, thanks for joining us, a 4-under, par 66. If you can give us a couple comments on the round today and then take us through your birdies and bogeys, that would be great.
SEAN O'HAIR: Today was just all-around a good round, pretty much did everything the way I needed to. Hit it really nicely off the tee. Ball was going actually a very, very long way today, and I putted it nicely.
You know, it was disappointing to make that bogey on 17 because it was a fairly straightforward, nine out of ten times you make up-and-down there. But that was really the only hiccup. So I was pretty pleased with today.
COLIN MURRAY: Go through your card for us to start, just birdies and bogeys.
SEAN O'HAIR: 3, I made a nice wedge shot out of the rough, knocked it to about three feet, made the putt.
4, I hit it in the right rough and hit it to the back edge of the green and made I don't know how long of a putt that was, but that was a lot of fun. It was probably at least 50 feet or so.
7, I have no idea what I did there.
9, hit a nice little wedge shot to about six feet and made the putt.
And then 12, hit a driver down the right-hand side. Hit a really, really sporty wedge shot out of the rough, got quite a bit of spin on it, so it just one hopped and stopped right beside the pin. That was a tap-in.
13, I was playing a cut off the bunker there, went dead straight and really didn't have much of a lie so made actually a pretty good bogey there.
14, nice comeback, hit it down the left-hand side, hit a pretty good shot to about 20 feet or so, made the putt.
And then 17, hit a great drive, had a wedge that I was trying to hit 140, and top of my wedge is like 136, and it flew 153. It was kind of shocking that I did that. And then obviously didn't make up-and-down.
All around pretty solid round.

Q. How much golf did you play last week?
SEAN O'HAIR: I played six days in a row.

Q. Nice vacation, huh?
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, it was a good week off. Yeah, just played with my buddies, and we just had a good time. Did a lot of gambling and lost a lot of money. I lost a lot of money last week, but that's okay.

Q. I thought you were good.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, I was giving them too many shots. They were winning the bets on the first tee.

Q. What did you play, Aronimink the whole time or bounce around?
SEAN O'HAIR: I played Aronimink, Kennett Country Club, I played Concord Country Club, and I think that was about it, yeah.

Q. Everyone was talking about needing a break. Why did you do this?
SEAN O'HAIR: I just felt like playing. I didn't go out and beat balls, I didn't go out on the putting green and putt. Really I got in my car, threw my clubs on the cart, and away we went. That was about it. It was a good time. We'd go have lunch afterwards or before we'd play and shoot the breeze a little bit. You know, I'm fortunate enough that my buddies, they are self-employed so they can take the time off through the week and go play a little bit. So it was fun.

Q. Sounds like you put them into early retirement with the money, right?
SEAN O'HAIR: I've taken a lot of money off them, so it's just kind of evening out. But I'm still up.

Q. Scott Rude asked you outside about the putting tip you got from Tiger. How do you put that into play during a tournament after getting it, and how important is it to be able to talk to someone like that and bounce ideas off?
SEAN O'HAIR: Well, you know, I'm not even close to doing exactly what he's told me to do. I believe in what he said. I truly believe in what he said, and I think it's the key for me to kind of take my putting to another level, because let's face it, that's kind of what's held me back for a long time.
You know, as far as getting that kind of advice from somebody, getting advice like that from good players is obviously awesome, but getting it from basically the greatest of all time is pretty cool.
And like I said to Steve Sands, I just said, you know, the thing that impresses me more, we all know how good of a player he is and how great of a player he is, but I think the thing that impresses me more is the quality of guy he is.
I mean, I'm his competition, and for him to help me out like he did was very classy, I thought.

Q. What was the tip and when?
SEAN O'HAIR: It was just a putting tip just to kind of help me out. It was here on the back nine yesterday.

Q. What was the gist of it?
SEAN O'HAIR: I think it's a little too complicated for you guys. (Laughter.) I had to say that, I'm sorry.
No, he's just kind of helping me out a little bit with my backswing on the stroke. I tend to deloft the putter and take it a little too square going back, so he just was kind of trying to get me to almost add loft to the putter so I can release it through.
Basically if you take it straight back and you deloft it, you've got to hang onto it going through or the ball is going to go dead left. Basically I was taught as a kid hands forward, deloft, and then hold it going through. Well, that's fine when you have nerves of steel and you don't care. But when you're out here playing for a living and there's a lot more nerves out there, you need kind of something that's going to work on a daily basis.
He was just giving me some advice with that.

Q. Speaking of nerves of steel, money for a living and all that stuff, if you keep this up there's a possibility you're putting for $11.35 million on the 18th green on Sunday. I'm wondering whether you can get your head and stomach lining around that number.
SEAN O'HAIR: Well, I don't even know if I'm going to have that opportunity, but if I do have that opportunity, I hope I have like a five-shot lead. (Laughter.)

Q. Two things, Sean: Do you have any clue what needs to happen for you to win the FedExCup?
SEAN O'HAIR: I do. I think I need a win and Tiger and Stricker, I think, need to finish worse than second.

Q. And then the other one is at one point you were 5-under and Tiger, I think, was 1-over, and you're cruising along, and next thing you know I think he's one back. Does that ever surprise you? Do you ever think, can he have a bad day every now and again, or can he have an off day?
SEAN O'HAIR: I don't think I'm ever surprised what he does, to be honest with you. Even when I wasn't even out here, I mean, I looked up to him when I was a teenager, I was in high school, and he was just winning the Amateur and turning professional. I mean, he's a phenom. I mean, he's just the man.
Nothing surprises me when it comes to Tiger. I don't take anything he does for granted. I mean, the thing that I've learned is that no matter what situation I'm in, I've just got to go out and play good golf. That's all there is to it. If you go out and play good golf, hopefully at the end of the day you're right there. But you're not going to play average golf against him and do anything worthwhile.

Q. Could you just talk about the conditions out there today?
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah. Fairways weren't too soft but still a little bit softer. The course was playing fairly long. And then the greens are just incredibly firm, probably the most firm we've played all year. Maybe PLAYERS Championship is a close second, but these are by far the firmest greens we've played all year, which is kind of ironic since we've got so much rain. But this SubAir system is just amazing.
The greens are in great shape. They're rolling nicely, and they're at a nice speed. You know, the golf course is playing good.

Q. This is a year-long competition. When you look back over this entire year, is this your best year or one of your best years?
SEAN O'HAIR: Oh, yeah, this is by far my best year. Winning a golf tournament, and I don't know how many Top 10s I've had, I think it's like eight or nine Top 10s, so it's been consistent. I've had a few hiccups here and there, but all in all, it's been a very good year for me.

Q. Back to your buddies last week, what was the most strokes you had to give, and how did they talk you out of that many shots?
SEAN O'HAIR: Well, the one that hurt me was I gave a 1 handicap, a good buddy of mine, who used to be a really good player, six shots, and he schooled me. I think he actually tied me at Aronimink. He tied me straight up. So I lost a lot of money that day.
COLIN MURRAY: Sean, thanks, good playing and good luck.

End of FastScripts

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