Updates: Stasi at U.S. Mid-Am; 2009 Walker Cup alums; Sean O'Hair

   Meghan Stasi, the reigning Philadelphia Amateur champion, did not win her fifth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur championship this week at Harbour Trees Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind., but she certainly had an eventful week.

   If you checked out my last post, you know that Stasi lives in Oakland Park, Fla., but is a South Jersey native who won seven straight Philly Amateur titles from 1999-2005. She took a trip home this summer and added an eighth title at Wilmington Country Club’s South Course.

   I took her run at a fifth U.S. Mid-Am title up to the quarterfinals, where she was to meet Canadian Christina Proteau Wednesday. What I didn’t know was that Proteau is six months pregnant. Stasi had Proteau 4-down after five holes, but just when it look Stasi was on her way to an easy victory, Proteau came all the way back, making birdie on the 18^th hole to square the match.

   Stasi finally won the match with a par on the 19^th hole of the match, but she was certainly impressed with her Canadian foe after Stasi reached the U.S. Mid-Am semifinals for the third straight year.

   “I was fortunate with the way it came out,” the 36-year-old Stasi told the USGA website. “She chipped and putted the ball really well. And being six months pregnant, my goodness, that’s awesome.”

   Stasi had to turn right around and take on Margaret Shirley in the semifinals Wednesday, but rain halted the proceedings with Shirley holding a 2-up advantage through nine holes. Shirley finished the job early Thursday, ousting Stasi with a 5 and 4 victory.

   Shirley then defeated Julia Potter of Granger, Ind., 5 and 3, to capture the title, avenging a loss to Potter in the final a year ago.

Walker Cup 2009 alums

   Round 1 of the Tour Championship was five years to the day of the opening ceremony for the 2009 Walker Cup Match at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course. That opening ceremony marked the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks and that remembrance was a big part of the eve of the first day of the matches.

   In scanning the 30 remaining PGA Tour pros in the field at East Lake, I was struck  by the fact that three members of captain George “Buddy” Marucci’s winning U.S. side at Merion that week are in the field.

   No surprise that the best player on that U.S. team, Rickie Fowler, is at East Lake. He was on the leaderboard at every major championship in 2014 and appears to be approaching the kind of promise he showed as the unquestioned leader of that U.S. team.

   I had pretty much lost track of one of two of Fowler’s Oklahoma State teammates that were on that U.S. side, Morgan Hoffman, and was a little surprised that he’s even at East Lake. A quick check of the Internet revealed all Hoffman did to make it to East Lake was shoot 62-63 on the weekend last week at the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club to advance to The Tour Championship.

   Hoffman has picked the perfect time to get on a roll after squeaking into the top 125 who are eligible for the postseason at 124 on the FedEx points list.

   The third member of that U.S. team in the Tour Championship Field is former Georgia Tech standout Cameron Tringale. I went out to watch Tringale that weekend in hopes that one of his college teammates, Adam Cohan, the 2002 PIAA champion and three-time Daily Times Player of the Year at Radnor, might be in the gallery. And indeed he was. It was the last chance I’ve had to catch up with Cohan, who was one of the most focused and accomplished high school golfers I’ve ever covered.

   I also chatted with Tringale’s mother as we watched him play that day. She was worried at how he would do at the next level. Five years later, I think he’s doing just fine.

O’Hair may need a victory

   I’m fairly certain that Delco’s adopted son on the PGA Tour, Sean O’Hair, is in serious jeopardy of losing his PGA Tour playing privileges.

   O’Hair, who married Sun Valley All-Delco Jackie Lucas and can often be found working on his game at Concord Country Club when he’s at his West Chester home (Pocopson Township, to be specific) with his wife and their four kids, was relegated to the Web.com Tour Finals series a year ago and grinded it out through four tournaments to earn his way back on the PGA Tour.

  O’Hair has struggled for much of 2014 and he carried those struggles into the Web.com Tour Finals. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure the only chance he has left is to win one of these last events. O’Hair opened with a 3-under 68 Thursday in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at The Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlett Course.

   O’Hair is one of those guys you can never really give up on, though. Even if he can’t make it back to the PGA Tour, I’m pretty sure he will still be eligible for the Web.com Tour next year and that’s the best place you can be to earn a few bucks and earn your way back on the Big Tour at the same time.