Chadds Ford's Sean O'Hair is back in the game entering the PGA

Thursday morning at 9:15, Sean O'Hair will begin his opening round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club  in Charlotte, N.C, off the first tee with fellow four-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Na and Baltusrol club pro Alex Beach. It will be the first time since 2010 that the Texas native turned Chadds Ford father of four has played in all four majors in a season.

The man who once got to 12th in the world rankings — when he was considered one of the best young golfers on the food chain  — had made it into only one major in the previous four years (2015 PGA). So this must be something, right?

"I've still got a long way to go, hopefully," hedged O'Hair, who turned 35 in July. "I can't see the future, but I think some of my best golf is ahead of me. I've been a pro for 17 years. I've been out here [on the PGA Tour] for 13. That's a long time. I've probably got another 10 or 12 years of really competitive golf left. What the hell else am I going to do?

"It's important to have the right perspective. I had some bad years. Almost everyone does, if you're out here long enough. And not everyone finds their way back. You keep your head down and keep going. This could definitely be a stepping-stone. I've given myself some opportunities this year. But I can't be patting myself on the back for getting this far."

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He is 75th in the fluid world rankings, 50th on this season's money list with $1.7 million, just ahead of Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, and Patrick Reed. In 2013, O'Hair earned $268,614. By the end of 2014, he'd fallen to 474th in the world. At the end of both those years, he needed to do well in the Web.com Tour playoffs just to keep his tour card.

"There are moments in your life, good and bad, when it's hard to have the big picture in mind," said O'Hair, whose last win was at the 2011 Canadian Open. "I'm proud of myself for working my way back, of course. But you can't get too comfortable, just like you can't beat yourself up too much in the down times. And I've had my lows, for sure."

He won the John Deere Classic in 2005, and that got him into the following week's British Open. After getting a last-minute passport, he finished tied for 15th in his first major. Just like that, he turned into one of those names.

"When I first came out, I really thought I was going to win [a tournament] pretty much every year," O'Hair said. "I thought I'd be one of the best of my generation. I'm not saying that still can't happen. I'd like to have 10 wins or more, and a major, by the time I hang it up. Then I could look back and say I had a solid career. I really thought I'd have something [approaching that] by now. But it's dangerous if I look back and say I only have four, or I should be this or that. It's such a selfish sport. Everyone's mostly caught up in their own thing. … You want to win more? Just play better.

"Every day, I'll look around and go, 'I'm better than that guy.' It's a hard reality. You ask yourself why. The answer is to look in the mirror, you know. I'm not going to say I'm disappointed, but I would assess [my career] as OK to this point. That's probably the best word I would use. But I feel like I can be competitive. That's always a pretty good place for me to be in."

One of his victories came on this PGA course, in 2009, when he beat eventual two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson and soon-to-be U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover by a stroke. But he has also missed the cut there. So …

"Next week's about next week," he reasoned.

O'Hair has five top-10s this season, the most for him since '09. That includes a second, for the third straight year. In his last start, two weeks ago at the Canadian Open, he closed with a 65 to finish tied for 10th. He missed the cut at the Masters and U.S. Open before finishing 62nd at the British Open. A seventh at the 2010 British remains his best major.

"I do feel older, but my attitude is this is where I should be," said O'Hair, whose oldest child, Molly, is 12. "It's cool, don't get me wrong. But I remember where I was a few years ago  —  that's for damn sure. That's what I need to be thinking about. I need to be thinking I belong here. Not only that, but I can contend. If I play my best golf, I have a legitimate chance. And I know that. If I don't think like that, how the hell am I going to beat Jordan Spieth or Dustin Johnson or Jason Day?

"It's about being competitive, man. If you're not ready to let it kind of all hang out, you might as well stay on the sidelines."

Putting and wedge play/short game have been his biggest shortcomings. At the same time, he has always been one of the better ball strikers, especially with his mid-to-longer irons. These days, he's spending more time trying to improve the areas that have held him back, maybe even at the slight expense of his strengths.

"I've never been a ball-beater," he said. "I'm not saying you don't have get your [butt] out there [and practice]. But you don't have to do it 23 hours a day. It's being smart with your time. Now, I'll take a cart and go out on the course and drop five balls around a green, give myself different lies and scenarios, and play up-and-down games. For me, I get more out of that. There's a million ways to skin a cat. It's almost like I'm reinventing myself.

"It's not about hitting the ball, putting or the short game. It's about the whole damn thing."

His journey isn't over. Maybe the worst is indeed in the rearview. And next week is another opportunity. Yet at least for the time being, he isn't staring at life on the Web.com Tour, either. A bunch of guys his age haven't accomplished as much. And likely never will. O'Hair won't judge himself that way.

"I don't think I'm a No. 1 player in the world, and I don't think that's a negative thing to say," he said. "That's real. But I could be in the top 10. Yeah, 100 percent. It's a matter of want to. It kind of gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

"I don't know how many guys could get back to where I am after going through those kind of struggles. That's just not the way it works. I expect a lot out of myself. I don't see anything wrong with that. I've never seen the point of not being hard on yourself when you don't perform.

"I want to be able to say, 'You did it. All right.' I know it's there. Let's just say I'm trending in the right direction. At the end of the day, that's all I can really ask for. If I keep going, I'm going to like the results. That's how I have to look at it."

By all means, play away.