Q school is tough: Steven O’Hara
Dangerous, hard hitting, harsh, no matter what word you use about The PGA Tour qualifying rounds, Steven O’Hara is all eager to agree with you. According to O’Hara, he has played enough Q school 12 months ago and believes that this is all he will ever be
able to play.
The 2010 qualifying school is currently underway with its 6th round of the 3 stage event and will be awarding the top 25 players with full playing rights to the PGA Tour for 2011. Other than that, the next 50 golfers from the finish will be holders of full
cards for second-tier Nationwide Tour. Apart from the qualifiers, 126 of these golfers would be pushed back into the sticks of the Challenge Tour.
Six of O’Hara’s countrymen; Alastair Forsyth, Marc Warren, Andrew Coltart, Lloyd, Elliot Saltman and Jack Doherty, are all among the list of contenders and with his countrymen appearing at the Q school, O’Hara doesn’t seem to be in envy at all. According
to his schedule, the 30-year-old will be playing in the hot desert of Dubai in full form while his buddies Forsyth and Warren are on pins and needles in Spain.
From what the Scott has learnt from Q school, he considers it as one horrible week.
“It’s one of the most mentally challenging events ever” O’Hara said.
What the ninth place holder at the Portugal Masters means is that when a golfer has his future in the line of fire, the situation isn’t just tense, it’s ruthless.
Describing what it’s like before the match, O’Hara recalled his time and said that he had been tortured by the weather, by the nervousness and by the pressure. Illustrating further he said that it had been so cold that the golfers had to wear waterproofs
all day, the nervousness reached to such a level that even the most hardened professional found it hard to eat and the pressure was so much that the greens lost their normal hustle and bustle.
“It happens when your future is on the block” O’Hara said.
Answering how he fought down the ill-timed and adverse conditions the usual Q school presented, the 30-year-old said that he had everything sorted out in his mind before his big day. He said that he knew what he to do and since everything was pre-planned,
the lot fortunately worked out for him.
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