Off the tee: The parent from hell syndrome

Sean O'Hair is a rookie on the United States PGA tour this year. He is also a survivor of that sporting nightmare - a pushy parent.

Everyone's seen one, on the sideline razzing the ref and reliving his own sporting dreams through his offspring.

Golf over the years has had its problems and many junior tournaments around the world these days prohibit parents from acting as caddies.

Most of the time parents are loving supporters, wanting the best for their kids. Then there is Marc O'Hair.

He became obsessed with turning his son into a golfing champion. He took him out of school when he was 17 to join the professional ranks. The pair toured the United States in a car, trying to qualify for minor tournaments.

For every shot over par, Sean was compelled to run penalty kilometres. He was hit and verbally abused. There was a contract he was made to sign, which guaranteed Marc 10 per cent of his earnings for life.

Three years ago Sean broke away and got married, which did wonders for his golf game. He shot a string of birdies in his final round at the second stage of the US PGA qualifying school last year and then qualified fourth in the final stage to earn his card on the big tour.

So far in seven tournaments the 22-year-old, now living in Pennsylvania, has made four cuts and earned a total of US$137,554 ($185,000). Last weekend he finished tied for 17th in the Honda Open, earning US$77,000.

Father and son are no longer talking, but their family horror story speaks volumes to sporting parents.

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Talk about a family holiday. The European seniors tour likes to ease its way gradually into its increasingly lucrative season. So the old blokes were reviving their spirits in Tobago in the West Indies last week.

Two Argentine brothers, Luis and Horacio Carbonetti, entered into the holiday spirit by finishing first and second, with Luis winning by two shots with a final round of four-under 68 for a three-round aggregate of eight-under 208.

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With the officials at the top about to consummate the marriage of men's and women's golf in this country, perhaps it is time for streamlining the national tournament rules.

Fresh in the mind is the women's national strokeplay tournament so successfully staged at Titirangi last week. Victory by Sharon Ahnwas the icing on the cake after the Tasman Cup win over Australia earlier in the week.

We had some of the best golfers from the two countries competing on a world-class course - and yet there was still an obsession with displaying net medal scores along with the gross.

Golf is lucky that the universal handicapping system allows players of differing ability to compete against one another.

But at the top level, handicap scores have no place.