O’Hair outlasts Blanks to win 2011 Canadian Open
Posted July 24, 2011 7:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It took a playoff hole with Kris Blanks but Sean O’Hair is the 2011 RBC Canadian Open champion as he shot a 72-hole score of four-under par.
With Americans Blanks and O’Hair both sitting at -4 the pair set out for the 18th hole to decide a winner. Both players put their tee shots into the rough on the right side but their second shots would go a long way in determining a champion. O’Hair chopped his ball out of the rough and onto the fairway, leaving it about 25-yards short of the green while Blanks on the other hand found the greenside bunker with his approach.
O’Hair chipped onto the green in three but Blanks struggled out of the bunker as he rolled it off the back of the green and into the first cut of the rough. After O’Hair tapped in for bogey Blanks was left with an eight-foot putt to force a tie and another playoff hole, but he pushed it right, and just like that O’Hair had his fourth career PGA Tour victory.
Abbotsford native Adam Hadwin began the day just a stroke back of the lead but he appeared to fall out of contention with two bogeys and a double-bogey on the front nine. The 23-year-old clawed his way back into the mix though, when he birdied three holes in a row starting on the 12th.
He finished the tournament tied for fourth place with a score of two-under par, which is the highest a Canadian has finished at the event since Mike Weir came second in 2004. With the top ten finish Hadwin qualified to play in next week’s PGA event, the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.
