O’HERN’S COOLUM ESCAPE
Nick O’Hern was on 23-under and striding towards victory in the 2006 Australian PGA Championship at the Hyatt Coolum Resort. After marking his ball on the 72nd hole he stood back to contemplate the two-foot par putt that would give him his first professional win in seven years.
Since his maiden title in 1999 – the Coolum Classic at the same course – O’Hern had notched 56 top-10s, been runner-up 12 times and third-placed 11 times. No-one doubted his metronomic consistency. Indeed, they called him ‘Mr Consistency’.
But questions were being asked. Why couldn’t he get it done?
Then he missed the two-foot putt. It didn’t touch the hole. The crowd gasped. “I just wanted to snap my putter, two-and-a-half-feet to win the tournament and I pulled it,” O’Hern said. For agonising moments, he stood aghast, ashen-faced, thunderstruck. And he remained that way for some time.
“Had he jumped in the lake there and then, no one would have blamed him,” veteran scribe Peter Stone wrote.
It meant a play-off with Peter Lonard, who also felt for O’Hern. “I said sorry when he missed the putt and he said, ‘let’s go and have some fun out there’,” Lonard said. “What the hell does that mean? I thought if I’d missed it, I probably would have coat-hangered someone.”
Three times the pair teed off on 18, three times they returned with pars. On their fourth attempt both men’s approach found the bunker. O’Hern would go first. The flag was at the back of a green which sloped away towards water. He had not won in seven years. He had missed a two-footer to win. It was knee-trembler territory.
His escape always looked good. It landed just on the green, rolled down the slope and, of course, fell in. “It was the bunker shot of my life,” O’Hern said. “It was my number one golf shot. It was as good as it gets.”
Near to tears on 18 he added: “It was hard work after I missed that putt [on 18]. To regroup from there was a real challenge. It’s been a long time waiting for a win. I know a lot of people said it wasn’t going to happen, but it has, and I couldn’t be happier.”
