O'Hair misses cut at AT&T National

In his longshot bid to make the cut Friday at the AT&T National, Sean O'Hair enjoyed the cheers of a supportive crowd at Aronimink Golf Club and hit his driver markedly better than he had in the first round.

But the story sadly was the same for O'Hair - his eighth missed cut in his last 11 PGA Tour events, and ninth in 16 tournaments overall this season.

The West Chester resident shot a 1-over-par 71 in the second round on his home course, but his 36-hole score of 147 was 4 strokes higher than the cut figure. He later discussed the need to stay positive in getting his game back more to the level of play earlier in his career.

"Sure, it's difficult," he said. "But that's the difference between winners and losers. Losers are the ones who sit there and complain and whine about it and feel sorry for themselves, and winners are the guys that suck it up and learn from it and focus on the positives. And that's what I'm going to do."

One positive O'Hair enjoyed Friday came courtesy of his driver. After managing to hit just four of 14 fairways in Thursday's round of 76, O'Hair found the short grass 11 of 14 times on the second day.

But his short game wrecked what could have been a good score. He had slightly more than 100 yards to the hole at No. 3 and No. 11 and made bogey. On the 18th, he finished up by missing the green with a 9-iron and carding another bogey.

"If I take pars on those, I shoot 2-under and I didn't play that good," he said. "So the game's there. There are simple things I've got to do a little bit better."

O'Hair will take a week off before heading over on July 10 to the British Open at Royal St. George's, for which he qualified by finishing tied for seventh last year at St. Andrews, his best finish in a major. In the meantime, he will be working diligently on his short game, and hopes to see the same results as with his driver Friday.

"I did a lot of work on the range [Thursday] so obviously that paid off," he said. "I think the short game has got to improve. It killed me both days. I'm not getting away with bad rounds.

"I'm going to emphasize the short game. I think I've got a good idea on what I need to do with my golf swing. I think the wedges need to get a little better. So 100 yards and in is really what I'm going to put most of my emphasis on this next week."

As for missing another cut, O'Hair, whose world ranking likely will fall from 102, where it stood this week, suggested it doesn't hurt any worse doing it at home than anywhere else.

"I think it's always disappointing no matter where you are to miss the cut," he said. "I do not play golf to make cuts, I play golf to win golf tournaments. And this year has been a struggle for me. It's more a matter of trying to make cuts as opposed to wining golf tournaments. So I've got to get on the right track.

"I think I'm finding bits and pieces as I go. It's been a process. I've just got to patient with it and stay as positive as possible because I keep saying it's a disappointment . . . the whole year's been a disappointment. So I've just got to look at the positives and look at the fact that I've got a lot of golf tournaments left and hopefully I can get back sooner than later."