O('Hair) Canada: Sixth alternate Sean O'Hair battles mono, canceled flight to shoot career-low 63 at RBC Canadian Open

Severe weather across Texas on Tuesday caused more than 1,000 canceled flights. Count Sean O’Hair’s flight among them.

The 41-year-old PGA TOUR veteran intended to travel from Lubbock, Texas, to Toronto in case of a late withdrawal at the RBC Canadian Open. He wasn’t expecting to get in. He entered the week as the sixth alternate but thought he should be there just in case. By Tuesday morning, a series of withdrawals pushed O’Hair into the field.

That’s when the hard part began. O’Hair had no choice but to wait out the storms in Texas overnight Tuesday. He drove five hours from Lubbock to Dallas on Wednesday morning and caught a flight to Toronto that arrived Wednesday night.

His 5:56 a.m. ET Thursday tee time at Hamilton Golf & Country Club was his first time seeing the property this week. Perhaps that should be O’Hair’s new strategy. He shot a first-round 63 to take a co-lead with Sam Burns through the morning wave. It was his lowest round as an individual in more than 10 years on the PGA TOUR.

“It’s been so long since I shot a good score like that out here,” O’Hair said. “I was pretty exhausted, so 7-under is pretty surprising.”

It was a needed performance at a needed time. O’Hair has split time between the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour this year with limited success. He’s appeared in five Korn Ferry Tour events and made just one cut. He’s made the cut in his four TOUR appearances but ranks 188th in the FedExCup. And he’s missed the last two weeks battling mono.

He’s feeling better now, but his health and travel issues set the context for a first round without expectations. O’Hair hadn’t played well and didn’t expect that to change considering Thursday’s circumstances.

“I’m probably more surprised than anybody. I don’t know, maybe I play my best golf that way,” O’Hair said.

O’Hair relied heavily on his caddie, T. Jay Fairlie, for club decisions off the tee and aiming lines. Fairlie arrived without issue earlier this week and spent the practice rounds walking the course in preparation. While O’Hair finished third in the 2006 RBC Canadian Open hosted at Hamilton Golf & Country Club, he couldn’t recall much of the course, especially considering its recent renovation.

Yet, he looked like a course member navigating the greens. He needed just 25 putts to complete his first round, holing 125 feet of putts en route to five birdies, one eagle and no bogeys. He gained more than four strokes on the greens, the best in the field through the morning wave.

He stuck his approach to 7 feet on the par-4 third and made the putt for birdie. He added another on the next hole, sinking a 27-foot birdie. He made the turn in 3-under 32 after a close approach left him just a few feet for birdie on the ninth. O’Hair holed three putts outside 10 feet on the back nine, including a 27-foot eagle on the par-5 17th to card 7-under 63, tying his career-lowest round in an official non-team event on TOUR (2013 Shriners Children’s Open).

“I like to be prepared,” O’Hair said, “I just, I didn't have an option. I think when you don't really have an option and you're kind of making a big deal about it, it almost hurts you, so I kind of just said, look, I don't really expect a whole lot today, I haven't really been playing that great either, so to come out here and shoot the score I did today was definitely kind of a shocker for me. Ride it out I guess as long as I can.”