Justin Rose took the ultimate honours and Gareth Bale grabbed a fair chunk of the limelight but Paul O’Hara made The PGA proud with a sterling showing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California.
On a dream debut appearance among some of the leading lights of the PGA Tour, O’Hara underlined his qualities and abilities on the big stage and played all four rounds over Spyglass Hill, Monterey Peninsula and storied Pebble Beach.
After two rounds of the weather-delayed event, O’Hara, the dominant force on the Tartan Tour in recent years, was sitting in the top-40 while his final round, after making the robust 54-hole cut, was played in the company of former champion and three-time major winner Jordan Spieth.
In the end, O’Hara, who was invited to the event by a contact he made during the Tartan Tour’s Carnegie Invitational at Skibo Castle, picked up a cheque for $17,550 but his golfing experiences were priceless.
“Paul has been playing off mats over the winter and hasn’t had a scorecard in his hands for over four months so to go out there, be plunged into a PGA Tour event and make a 54-hole cut is hugely impressive,” said his coach and former Scottish PGA champion David Orr.
“It’s not easy to get the scoring boots on again so it was a great effort. To play with Jordan Spieth on the final day would’ve capped off a great experience for him.
“It hopefully sets him up nicely for the year and he’ll now be really motivated to kick on. He’s done the Tartan Tour proud and the whole of The PGA. He’s been the stand out player in Scotland for a while now and hopefully his efforts give the other guys a shot in the arm.
"It’s very aspirational, seeing someone like that playing in a big tour event and even more so coming from a winter in Scotland. He had a lot of learning to do in a short period of time so I’m really chuffed for him.”
