Last year, Sean O'Hair won the Quail Hollow Championship, finished fifth in the FedExCup and made the U.S. team that beat the Internationals in the Presidents Cup.
He did most of that despite a stress fracture in his left forearm, which he says is just now healed.
"My ball-striking has been sketchy," said O'Hair, who begins play Thursday in the Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla. "Last week I saw a lot of improvement in the driver.
"I'm not making as many bogeys as I made last year. I'm just not making as many birdies."
O'Hair, 27, won the Transitions Championship in 2008. It was the second of his three career wins. He enters this year's Transitions off a tie for 18th in the WGC-CA Championship after shooting 66 on Sunday at Doral, 316 miles to the southeast.
In January, he tied for fourth in the SBS Championship, despite not practicing much because of his injury. He suffered the stress fracture last May, while practicing for the Colonial in Fort Worth.
He had a chance to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando last year, but he made bogey on the final hole and Tiger Woods made birdie to beat him.
Woods is taking an indefinite leave from the PGA Tour. No one knows for sure when he will return, but he is practicing (story, 1C).
"I expect him to return ready to play and ready to win," O'Hair said. "It sounds like he'll be returning quickly."
O'Hair said the Tour has been "business as usual," but he added, "We miss Tiger. We want our best player out there. When you win, you want him in the field because his presence adds to the win."
Briefly:
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem reiterated Monday he doesn't know when Tiger Woods will return but suggested the Tour would know ahead of time. "What I've indicated is that we are going to have advance notice, and we are going to be, in my view, comfortable with the notice we have," he said.
SOURCE: USA Today
Contributing: Wire reports
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