Backspin: O'Hair's biggest fan? Ex-coach Foley

text size

Sean Foley used to be Sean O'Hair's coach, but the two went their separate ways in early May.

That didn't stop Foley from feeling nervous at his Orlando house on Sunday. Even though he no longer works with O'Hair, Foley was still pulling for his friend at the RBC Canadian Open.

When O'Hair beat Kris Blanks in the first playoff hole, no one was more happy than his ex-coach.

"I'm so pleased for him," Foley said. "It just goes to show with players at this level it doesn't matter who coaches them or helps them out, they are the talent and Sean was fantastic last week.

"He is my friend and I just tried not to bite my nails off."

Ironically, it was in 2008 in Canada that Foley began working with O'Hair. During their time together, O'Hair won two events and played for the U.S. team in the 2009 Presidents Cup.

But after missing five consecutive cuts earlier this year, O'Hair decided he needed a change. Having split up with caddie Brennan Little a few weeks earlier, O'Hair continued the shake-up by saying goodbye to Foley and getting back with Steve Dahlby, who has coached O'Hair "on and off since I was about 11 or 12 years old."

With Dahlby's help, O'Hair rebuilt his swing, working on the setup and "trying to coil a little better" on the backswing."

The changes briefly revitalized O'Hair, as he posted consecutive top-20 finishes. But then, he missed the cut in four of his next five starts, including the British Open. On Wednesday, after playing poorly in the pro-am, O'Hair felt he had reached the low point of his year.

Four days later, he won his fourth career PGA TOUR event. Go figure.

Afterwards, O'Hair didn't forget the people who had helped get him there -- including Foley. Even though they no longer have a working relationship, they have a mutual respect for each other and remain friends.

"I don't think I'd be here without Sean Foley," O'Hair said. "Sean really helped me learn about myself and about my game. He took me a long way in a short period of time. I learned a lot with him.

"It was time to make a change, and really it's that simple. We're still close friends. We still chat quite a bit."

After Sunday's win, O'Hair definitely has a lot to talk about.

Stock up

Bo Van Pelt: I have a hard time putting Van Pelt in Stock Up when he shot 74 Sunday and went from a share of the lead to a tie for sixth. But you can't deny how well Van Pelt has played the last two months -- six top-15 finishes in seven starts, including a couple of finishes in the top 6. All that's missing is a win. FedExCup rank: 32 (40 last week) Charl Schwartzel: For anyone who thought Schwartzel's win at the Masters was some sort of lightning-in-a-bottle moment, consider this: since then, he's tied for ninth at the U.S. Open, tied for 16th at the British Open and tied for ninth at the RBC Canadian Open. FedExCup rank: 20 (21 last week). Spencer Levin: Levin has had a nice season -- well, except for that infamous dropkick of his hat during the AT&T National -- with his fourth top-10 of the year coming Sunday. Levin is an emotional player, but if you're in a fantasy golf pool and looking for an under-the-radar type, Levin has finished in the top 15 three times in his last five starts. FedExCup rank: 22 (26 last week)

Stock down

Paul Casey: It turns out Casey's been battling a foot problem for the last three months and that's been a big part of his struggles this season. Casey had an MRI on the foot last week, saying, "It might be arthritis as the tests are negative and it's been more painful and swollen in the cold." Yikes. At 33, that could be problematic in the future, and it's certainly affected his play. This is the second time in three years Casey's year has been set back by injury. FedExCup rank: 146 (143 last week). Camilo Villegas: Outside of a tie for third at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, it's been a downright miserable two months for Villegas. He's missed six of his last eight starts, hasn't broken 71 in his last eight rounds and is a collective 25 over in that stretch. He battled back problems early in the season and that may be still affecting him in one way or another now, but Villegas clearly isn't in top form. FedExCup rank: 117 (114 last week). Anthony Kim: One minute he's contending (at the British Open), the next he's getting DQed for signing an incorrect scorecard (RBC Canadian Open). Kim would have missed the cut anyway after a second-round 81, but every time he takes a step forward, he seems he takes one or two back. Kim fell into some bad habits with his swing following thumb surgery last year and you have to wonder if he's completely over them. FedExCup rank. FedExCup rank: 92 (85 last week)

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. With only four weeks left until the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, there are some pretty big names on the outside looking in. Most notable among them is two-time FedExCup champion Tiger Woods, who is 133rd. He's not the only one, though. Els and Paul Casey are also outside the top 125, while Padraig Harrington is right on the bubble at No. 125.

2. Adam Hadwin didn't win Sunday in what was just his third career event on the PGA TOUR, but it won't be long before the 23-year-old is out here full time. He's that good. He's already won twice on the Canadian Tour and as Sean Foley said, has a very accomplished game. "He is pure," Foley told me. Now, Foley could have been doing a little flag-waving as a fellow Canadian, but anybody who watched Hadwin saw just how good his game already is -- especially with how he bounced back from a terrible start Sunday with three straight birdies on the back nine to get back into contention.

3. As much as I think Bo Van Pelt will win sooner than later, it looks like coming from behind is how he'll need to do it. Sunday marked the fourth time he entered the final round with at least a share of the lead, and all four times he's failed to win. Van Pelt hasn't even broken par in any of those final rounds and in two of those cases he failed to break 78. Sunday, he shot 74. He now ranks 114th on TOUR in final-round scoring average at 71.54.

4. While we're on statistics, here's one that pretty much sums up Ernie Els' season: The 66 he shot Sunday was his lowest on TOUR since the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.

5. It's way too early to tell what kind of pro careers Patrick Cantlay or Jordan Spieth are going to have, but they're both having pretty special summers. Cantlay, who is the top-ranked amateur in the world and will be a sophomore at UCLA this fall, recorded not only his fourth top-25 finish in four starts on TOUR this year, he got his best result period with a tie for ninth at the RBC Canadian Open.

Cantlay insists he's still planning to play all four years at UCLA but if he keeps playing the way he has been, it's going to be awfully hard to turn down turning pro at some point.

"Every event I play, I feel like I can win if I play well," Cantlay said Sunday after a final-round 69. Because he finished in the top 10, Cantlay is eligible to play in this week's Greenbrier Classic but Sunday night he said he wasn't going to play -- he's played seven of the last eight weeks and next week will play in the Western Amateur. Somehow I don't think he needs to worry, though. He'll be out here soon enough.

6. As for Spieth, the 17-year-old won the U.S. Junior Amateur for a second time -- he also won it in 2009 -- and in doing so, joined Tiger Woods as the only other player to win the title more than once (Woods won three of them in a row from 1991 to 1993). Spieth, who has made the cut in two of the three TOUR events he's played in as an amateur, tying for 16th in one of them, is headed to the University of Texas in the fall.

7. When is a final-round 77 still good enough to win? When you start the day with an 11-shot lead, as Alexander Noren did in Stockholm at the Nordea Masters, where the wind was blowing so hard there Sunday only one player broke par and two others failed to break 90. Yes, 90. Twenty more players shot in the 80s. According to Bubba Watson's caddie, Ted Scott, Watson needed a 7-iron from 130 yards on one hole. And you thought Chicago was the Windy City.

8. Speaking of difficult conditions, albeit nowhere near as bad as that, there were exactly zero bogey-free rounds at the RBC Canadian Open. That's only happened twice in the last three years -- at last year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and in 2008 at THE PLAYERS Championship.

9. As if things weren't bad enough for Mike Weir -- torn ligament in his elbow last year, 11 missed cuts this year -- they got even worse on Friday when he pulled out of his country's national championship after aggravating the elbow while hitting out of the rough in the second round. "It's very disappointing," Weir said. "This is our national championship. But I'm just not going to re-injure (the elbow) again. I woke up [Friday] and it was very sore. I thought I could play through it ... I just don't want to go down that road again where it becomes a bad injury again. It's very tender, very sore right now."

Forward Spin

The Playoffs are only a month away, and with each passing week, playing well becomes more and more important, especially for those outside the top 125 in the FedExCup standings. The Greenbrier Classic is not only an opportunity to secure a spot in the Playoffs, it's where Stuart Appleby shot a final-round 59 to steal a win from Jeff Overton, who finished a stroke back. I don't know that we'll see another 59 there this year, but scoring should be low. Last year, eight players finished at 15 under or better, with Appleby winning at 22 under.

Kodak Challenge

LAST WEEK: RBC Canadian Open HOLE: The par-4 14th at Shaughnessy G&CC UPDATE: Bill Lunde left the RBC Canadian Open at 15 under and leads by two shots over Cameron Tringale. Story | Kodak Challenge standings