O’Hair rallies for win

PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- Sean O’Hair took advantage of a stunning collapse by Stewart Cink to win the PODS Championship, closing with a two-under-par 69 on Sunday to energize his young career and earn a trip to the Masters.

O’Hair hadn’t won since his rookie season in 2005 and felt as if he had been going nowhere over the last couple of seasons. But he turned it around on the back nine of Innisbrook with a 30-foot birdie and two par putts that were equally important, building such a margin that he could afford bogey on the last hole for a two-shot victory. He finished at four-under 280.

It was his O’Hair’s first victory since the John Deere Classic as a 22-year-old rookie in 2005, which got him into the British Open at St. Andrews. This victory sends him to Augusta National next month, and he will move into the top 40 in the world to qualify for the World Golf Championship at Doral in two weeks.

Cink suffered a loss perhaps even more devastating than the Accenture Match Play Championship blowout against Tiger Woods. Cink had a four-shot lead after two holes Sunday, still had control on the back nine, then dropped four shots in a four-hole stretch along the back nine of the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook.

Cink lost the outright lead when his tee shot rolled up against a tree on the par-five 14th, leading to bogey. The only consolation was making a 50-foot birdie on the 17th hole that allowed him to join a six-way tie for second with John Senden, Ryuji Imada, George McNeill, Troy Matteson and Billy Mayfair.

Cink is winless since the 2004 Bridgestone Invitational.