Father's Day memo to Sean O'Hair: Don't go, Daddy!
Sean O'Hair will begin play on Sunday six shots off the lead. His wife, Jackie, is due to give birth any minute to the couple's third child. Accordingly, O'Hair is carrying a beeper and says that if it goes off, thus notifying him that the blessed event is imminent, he will depart Bethpage forthwith. This follows the precedent of Phil Mickelson, who carried a beeper 10 years ago at Pinehurst. (It didn't go off before tournament's end.)
The advice I am about to give does not apply if there are any complications surrounding the birth. And, of course, O'Hair's issues with his father, Marc, are well known, and perhaps give him further incentive to do the right thing as a parent. But as a card-carrying father of 25 years, I say: Sean, if you have a chance to win the U.S. Open, stay right where you are and watch the birth on video after the tournament.
Yes, it's great to be present for the birth of a child. But as millions of us males have discovered, the event would have proceeded without us! And for millions of others -- soldiers, for instance -- it did! (My own daughter was born on a Super Bowl weekend. Lucky for all of us she arrived on Saturday so I could watch the game with a clear conscience and an unfractured skull.)
Believe me: The kid will have no recollection of you being there. And I can virtually guarantee that if he or she hears that you passed up a chance to win the U.S. Open to attend the birth, the less-than-grateful teenage whelp will call you a dweeb, or a dork, or whatever the appropriate semi-affectionate term for wifty old dad is in 15 years.
After all, what comes around more often -- the opportunity to win the U.S. Open, or the chance to have more kids? I rest my case. And... Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.
Posted by: Darcy | Jun 21, 2009 6:24:45 PM
This kind of decision isn't about whether childbirth will proceed without you, or whether you can see it on video later, or which event happens more often, or whether the kid will remember you being there. It's a very simple question: which event is more important to you? Mickelson and O'Hair apparently have their priorities straight on this one.
Posted by: Leah | Jun 21, 2009 2:10:32 PM
@Ronald: As the daughter in question, I can assure you I would have been far from crushed if Herr Friedman had the opportunity to play in the Open (which would have been quite a feat in January). Somehow, despite hours of my life spent watching sports and The History Channel, I turned out OK. Happy Father's Day!
Posted by: lefty53 | Jun 21, 2009 1:03:13 PM
My thoughts exactly, Thanks!
Posted by: The Zeb | Jun 21, 2009 11:16:36 AM
Dick, I have never contended for a major championship, but it can't be more stressful than the delivery room. Trying to read the whispers and glances of the nurses and doctors is more difficult than reading any set of greens.
Posted by: ronald montesano | Jun 21, 2009 12:41:30 AM
I hope you improve in the sensitivity department as a dad...it's exactly the opposite...the kid won't care that you won the Open, but she/he will know that you cared enough to be at the birth, which will carry over into the parenting department.