PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- You wonder if he was watching. Did he tune into the telecast to check up on the son he has not spoken to in years? Did he recognize the all-too-familiar angst of tournament pressure, the none-too-familiar look of fulfilling a dream, reaching a goal, winning a golf tournament?
Sean O'Hair won the PODS Championship on Sunday, capturing at age 25 his second PGA Tour title. There was his wife, Jackie, and two children, Molly and Luke, to celebrate on the 18th green at the Innisbrook Resort. Trying to reach him on the phone was Jackie's father, Steve Lucas, former caddie and de facto dad.
Nowhere to be found was Marc O'Hair, the overbearing father who drove his son so hard that a victory such as Sunday's would have seemed impossible.
And it remains a sore, uncomfortable subject.
"That's kind of. ... I don't know how to put it. But I don't expect to hear from him," O'Hair said calmly after winning the $954,000 first prize.
It sounds sad, and it is an area O'Hair understandably does not like to visit. He prefers not to be known in golf circles for the unrelenting father who saw his son as a potential cash cow and made life so miserable that the two never speak.
But it remains a big part of his story, one that includes a victory at the John Deere Classic in 2005, rookie of the year honors the same season, and now a win at one of the toughest courses in Florida.
O'Hair shot a final-round 69 to overcome Stewart Cink and win by two strokes over six players on a difficult Copperhead course that yielded the highest winning score in relation to par this year. Afterward, O'Hair thanked the crowd and told them he has always been fond of the area, as he used to live nearby when he was going to high school.
If only they knew.
Back then, O'Hair attended the Bradenton Academy, where students at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy get their non-golf education. It is still remarkable to think that O'Hair turned pro at 17 at the urging of his father, who more or less admitted in an interview with "60 Minutes II" that he viewed his son as a commodity.
"I was in business 20-plus years, and I know how to make a profit," he told the newsmagazine show in 2002. "You've got the same old thing -- it's material, labor and overhead. He's pretty good labor."
The stories, to this day, are legendary. At American Junior Golf Association events, O'Hair would make his son run a mile for bogeys or every stroke he finished over par. After his junior year, O'Hair turned pro and went on the road with his dad, logging mile after brutal mile to find and play pro golf tournaments.
That's when father and son traveled the country, competing in mini-tour events, with Marc in the role of cook, caddie, chauffer. But the lifestyle was brutal, Sean was not having success, the pressure mounted. He was a teenager, and he had signed a contract requiring him to pay 10 percent of any earnings to his father.
"The thing about my dad is that, in his own twisted way, he did the best he could for me," O'Hair said in a 2005 Golf World story that appeared shortly after he earned his PGA Tour card. "But anyone who has the right perspective thinks he's crazy."
O'Hair's life changed for the better when he met Jackie Lucas, whom he married in 2002. Lucas' father, Steve, was his caddie "to help get me comfortable on the PGA Tour," said O'Hair, who has not spoken to his father since the wedding. Jackie caddied for Sean on various mini-tours, using wedding-gift money to pay for tournament entry fees, basically playing to subsist.
Now, more than $7 million in prize money later, it is about focusing on family and the future.
"We have so many good things in our life," Jackie O'Hair said. "Sean's family in Lubbock, Texas, has been wonderful. My family, our kids ... we can't think about [his dad]. We pray for things to change one day. But we have to focus on what is going well."
And the situation with Marc O'Hair?
"It's tough for Sean," she said. "That is really who it is a shame for. He is such a good person and has such a good heart. We are just going to continue with that. Hopefully things will change. But we've got a lot of great things and people surrounding us right now."
Somewhere, sometime, somebody did right by Sean O'Hair. It might not have been in the pursuit of a lucrative golf career. But it certainly shows in the molding of a young man who is amazingly mature and well-grounded for all he has endured.
"I've learned a lot, I guess you could say," O'Hair said. "I went through a lot from 17 to now. I've been a professional for how long? Since '99. Geez, where has the time gone? It's crazy. But when I was 22 years old, I was a lot more seasoned than say at 22 out of college just because of my experiences. But I try not to focus too much on the negative stuff."
At last year's Players Championship, much was made of the gaffe O'Hair made at the TPC Sawgrass' par-3 17th hole during the final round. Trailing Phil Mickelson by two strokes, O'Hair felt he had to be aggressive -- and promptly sent his tee shot into the water. After another ball in the water and a bogey at the 18th hole, O'Hair had dropped from second to 11th -- and cost himself $747,000.
It was a cruel blow, but O'Hair handled it like a champ. He said he would be better for the experience. Later in the year, feeling like he no longer needed the counsel of his father-in-law on the bag, he sought veteran caddie Paul Tesori and had several high finishes.
This year, after a slow start, O'Hair now finds himself in the winner's circle, one of just seven players under the age of 30 to win at least two PGA Tour events.
With the win comes a spot in the CA Championship at Doral in two weeks and the Masters next month. That thought brought a huge smile to O'Hair's face.
Wonder if Dad will be watching?
Bob Harig is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.