Nick O'Hern
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Simon O'Hern is an Australia
n professional golf
er.
O'Hern has played on both of the world's premier professional golf tours, the European Tour
, and the United States based PGA Tour
. His biggest successes though, have come at home on the PGA Tour of Australasia
, where he won the Order of Merit as the leading money winner in 2006.
, Western Australia
. His father was a three-handicap golfer who played baseball for Australia, and he followed him by playing baseball for Western Australia
. He was also a talented tennis player, but he chose to concentrate on golf.
in 1994. He was successful at the European Tour qualifying school
at his first attempt in 1998 and played regularly on the European Tour from 1999 through 2007. He has not won on the European Tour, but had two second place finishes in 2003, two more in 2004 and one each in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In 2005 O'Hern has begun to play quite regularly in the United States
. He was not a member of the PGA Tour
, but having reached the top twenty of the Official World Golf Rankings
, he received a substantial number of invitations and sponsors exemptions for PGA Tour events. In 2006 he became a member of the PGA Tour on the basis of his membership of the International Team at the 2005 Presidents Cup
, and has since played mostly on that tour.
Also in 2006, O'Hern won the Australian PGA Championship, after holed out from the greenside bunker for birdie on the fourth hole of a two-man play-off with Peter Lonard
. The win brought to and end a 7 year drought for O'Hern, and propelled him to the top of the PGA Tour of Australasia's Order of Merit for 2006. He has won a total of five tournaments in Australia, and continues to play on the PGA Tour of Australasia during the northern hemisphere winter.
O'Hern has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings
, and he is the only player who has beaten Tiger Woods
in matchplay more than once. He is coached by Neil Simpson, Peter Thomson and Lewis Freiberg of the Mount Lawley Golf Club in Perth
, Western Australia
.
Knee surgery ended O'Hern's 2010 season after 11 events. He started the 2011 season on a medical exemption. O'Hern satisfied his medical exemption in May 2011 with four events remaining to retain his PGA Tour status. On 6 June, O'Hern went through sectional qualifying and secured a spot in the 2011 U.S. Open
.
O'Hern has never won on the PGA Tour; his best finish is a T2 at the 2006 Booz Allen Classic
.
, O'Hern marks his Titleist
Pro V1 with a drawn-on kangaroo
. The marking has been featured in Titleist
advertisements.
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n professional golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er.
O'Hern has played on both of the world's premier professional golf tours, the European Tour
PGA European Tour
The PGA European Tour is an organization which operates the three leading men's professional golf tours in Europe: the elite European Tour, the European Seniors Tour and the developmental Challenge Tour. Its headquarters are at Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England...
, and the United States based PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
. His biggest successes though, have come at home on the PGA Tour of Australasia
PGA Tour of Australasia
The PGA Tour of Australasia is a professional golf tour for men. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ranking points. The tour was formed in 1973 as the PGA Tour of Australia and adopted its current name in 1991....
, where he won the Order of Merit as the leading money winner in 2006.
Personal life
O'Hern was born in PerthPerth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. His father was a three-handicap golfer who played baseball for Australia, and he followed him by playing baseball for Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. He was also a talented tennis player, but he chose to concentrate on golf.
Career
O'Hern took up golf at the age of nine and plays left-handed. He turned professionalProfessional golfer
In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...
in 1994. He was successful at the European Tour qualifying school
Qualifying school
In professional golf the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S. based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the tour for the following season, otherwise known as a...
at his first attempt in 1998 and played regularly on the European Tour from 1999 through 2007. He has not won on the European Tour, but had two second place finishes in 2003, two more in 2004 and one each in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In 2005 O'Hern has begun to play quite regularly in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He was not a member of the PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
, but having reached the top twenty of the Official World Golf Rankings
Official World Golf Rankings
The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of male professional golfers...
, he received a substantial number of invitations and sponsors exemptions for PGA Tour events. In 2006 he became a member of the PGA Tour on the basis of his membership of the International Team at the 2005 Presidents Cup
Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world less Europe. Europe competes against the U.S. in a similar but considerably older event, the Ryder Cup. The Presidents Cup is held biennially...
, and has since played mostly on that tour.
Also in 2006, O'Hern won the Australian PGA Championship, after holed out from the greenside bunker for birdie on the fourth hole of a two-man play-off with Peter Lonard
Peter Lonard
Peter Lawrence Lonard is an Australian professional golfer who plays mainly on the U.S. based PGA Tour. He credits fellow Australian Greg Norman as his inspiration....
. The win brought to and end a 7 year drought for O'Hern, and propelled him to the top of the PGA Tour of Australasia's Order of Merit for 2006. He has won a total of five tournaments in Australia, and continues to play on the PGA Tour of Australasia during the northern hemisphere winter.
O'Hern has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings
Official World Golf Rankings
The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of male professional golfers...
, and he is the only player who has beaten Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
in matchplay more than once. He is coached by Neil Simpson, Peter Thomson and Lewis Freiberg of the Mount Lawley Golf Club in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
.
Knee surgery ended O'Hern's 2010 season after 11 events. He started the 2011 season on a medical exemption. O'Hern satisfied his medical exemption in May 2011 with four events remaining to retain his PGA Tour status. On 6 June, O'Hern went through sectional qualifying and secured a spot in the 2011 U.S. Open
2011 U.S. Open (golf)
The 2011 United States Open Championship, the 111th U.S. Open, was played June 16–19 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. It was won by Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who set 11 U.S. Open records on the weekend, including the lowest total 72-hole score and the lowest total under...
.
O'Hern has never won on the PGA Tour; his best finish is a T2 at the 2006 Booz Allen Classic
Booz Allen Classic
The Booz Allen Classic was a regular golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1968 to 2006.Perhaps more so than any other "regular" PGA Tour stop, the event wandered about, not just from course to course within a given metropolitan area, but along the East Coast...
.
Ball marking
O'Hern's ball marking has become famous because of its originality. In an ode to his native AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, O'Hern marks his Titleist
Titleist
Titleist is a brand name owned by Fila for golf equipment and apparel products produced by its subsidiary called the Acushnet Company, which is headquartered in Fairhaven, Massachusetts....
Pro V1 with a drawn-on kangaroo
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
. The marking has been featured in Titleist
Titleist
Titleist is a brand name owned by Fila for golf equipment and apparel products produced by its subsidiary called the Acushnet Company, which is headquartered in Fairhaven, Massachusetts....
advertisements.
PGA Tour of Australasia wins (2)
- 1999 Schweppes Coolum Classic
- 2006 Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship
Results in major championships
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters The Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament, also known as The Masters , is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, it is the first of the majors to be played each year... |
DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T45 | T19 | CUT | CUT | DNP |
| U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour... |
DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T49 | T6 | T23 | DNP | DNP |
| The Open Championship The Open Championship The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico... |
41 | DNP | DNP | CUT | DNP | T15 | CUT | CUT | T32 | DNP |
| PGA Championship PGA Championship The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship... |
DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP | T31 | CUT | CUT | T50 | CUT | DNP |
| Tournament | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|
| The Masters The Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament, also known as The Masters , is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, it is the first of the majors to be played each year... |
DNP | DNP |
| U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour... |
DNP | CUT |
| The Open Championship The Open Championship The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico... |
DNP | DNP |
| PGA Championship PGA Championship The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship... |
DNP | DNP |
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.
Team appearances
- Alfred Dunhill CupAlfred Dunhill CupThe Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000. It was for three man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championship". It was a "special approved event" on the European Tour, which means that it was...
(representing Australia): 2000 - World CupWGC-World CupThe World Cup is a men's golf tournament contested by teams of two representing their country. Only one team is allowed from each country. The players are selected on the basis of the Official World Golf Ranking, although not all of the first choice players choose to compete...
(representing Australia): 2004, 20072007 OMEGA Mission Hills World CupThe 2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup took place from November 22 to November 25 at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China. It was the 53rd World Cup. 28 countries competed and each country sent two players. The team purse is $5,000,000 with $1,600,000 going to the winner. The individual purse... - Presidents CupPresidents CupThe Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world less Europe. Europe competes against the U.S. in a similar but considerably older event, the Ryder Cup. The Presidents Cup is held biennially...
(International team): 20052005 Presidents Cup18½ United States – 15½ InternationalThe 6th Presidents Cup Matches were held in 2005 between September 20 and September 25. They were played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia, USA. The United States team won the competition by a margin of 18½–15½. The honorary chairmen...
, 20072007 Presidents CupUnited States 19½ - International 14½The 7th Presidents Cup Matches were held in 2007 between September 27 and September 30. They were played at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Île Bizard, Quebec, Canada. The United States team won the competition by a margin of 19½–14½.-Format:On the first day six...