Nick O'Hern

Nick O'Hern
Nick O'Hern
Personal information
Full name	Nicholas Simon O'Hern
Born	18 October 1971 (age 53); Perth, Western Australia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Sporting nationality	Australia
Residence	Melbourne, Victoria
Career
Turned professional	1994
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour of Australasia
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour ; European Tour ; Web.com Tour
Professional wins	6
Highest ranking	16 (28 January 2007)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour of Australasia	2
Other	4
Best results in major championships;
Masters Tournament	T19: 2006
PGA Championship	T31: 2004
U.S. Open	T6: 2006
The Open Championship	T15: 2005
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour of Australasia; Order of Merit winner
PGA Tour of Australasia; Order of Merit winner	2006

Last updated August 23, 2025

Nicholas Simon O'Hern (born 18 October 1971) is an Australian professional golfer.

Early life

O'Hern was born in Perth, Australia. His father was a three-handicap golfer who played baseball for Australia and he followed him by playing baseball for Western Australia. He was also a talented tennis player but he chose to concentrate on golf. In 2009, he was named the #1 ticket holder for the Fremantle Football Club.

Professional career

O'Hern took up golf at the age of nine and plays left-handed. He turned professional in 1994. He was successful at the European Tour qualifying school at his first attempt in 1998 and played regularly on the European Tour from 1999 through 2007. He has not won on the European Tour, but had two second-place finishes in 2003, two more in 2004 and one each in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

In 2005, O'Hern began to play quite regularly in the United States. He was not a member of the PGA Tour, but having reached the top twenty of the Official World Golf Rankings, he received a substantial number of invitations and sponsors exemptions for PGA Tour events. In 2006 he became a member of the PGA Tour on the basis of his membership of the International Team at the 2005 Presidents Cup, and has since played mostly on that tour.

Also in 2006, O'Hern won the Australian PGA Championship, after he holed out from the greenside bunker for birdie on the fourth hole of a two-man play-off with Peter Lonard. The win brought to an end a seven-year drought for O'Hern, and propelled him to the top of the PGA Tour of Australasia's Order of Merit for 2006.^[2] He has won five tournaments in Australia, and continues to play on the PGA Tour of Australasia during the northern hemisphere winter.

O'Hern has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings, and he is the only player who has beaten Tiger Woods in matchplay more than once. He is coached by Neil Simpson of the Mount Lawley Golf Club in Perth, Western Australia.

Knee surgery ended O'Hern's 2010 season after 11 events. He started the 2011 season on a medical exemption. O'Hern satisfied his medical exemption in May 2011 with four events remaining to retain his PGA Tour status. On 6 June, O'Hern went through sectional qualifying and secured a spot in the 2011 U.S. Open.

O'Hern never won on the PGA Tour; his best finish is a tie for second at the 2006 Booz Allen Classic.

O'Hern's ball marking has become famous because of its originality. In an ode to his native Australia, O'Hern marks his Titleist Pro V1 with a drawn-on kangaroo. The marking has been featured in Titleist advertisements.

Personal life

O'Hern is married and has two daughters. He resides in Melbourne, Australia. In 2016, he published a book entitled Tour Mentality: Inside the Mind of a Golf Pro.^[3]

Amateur wins

1991 Mount Lawley Championship

Professional wins (6)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	19 Dec 1999	Schweppes Coolum Classic	−10 (71-66-69=206)*	2 strokes	Wayne Smith
2	10 Dec 2006	Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship	−22 (66-69-63-68=266)	Playoff	Peter Lonard

*Note: The 1999 Schweppes Coolum Classic was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2005	Heineken Classic	Craig Parry	Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole
2	2006	Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship	Peter Lonard	Won with birdie on fourth extra hole

Other wins (4)

1997 Port Hedland PGA Classic
1998 Port Hedland PGA Classic, South West Open
1999 Nedlands Masters

Playoff record

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2005	Heineken Classic	Craig Parry	Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament	2000	2001	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Masters Tournament					T45	T19	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open					T49	T6	T23
The Open Championship	T41		CUT		T15	CUT	CUT	T32
PGA Championship		CUT		T31	CUT	CUT	T50	CUT

Tournament	2010	2011
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open		CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship

Top 10

Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

Tournament	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	1	4	2
U.S. Open	1	2	4	3
The Open Championship	0	1	6	3
PGA Championship	0	0	6	2
Totals	1	4	20	10

Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (2004 PGA – 2005 Open Championship)
Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
The Players Championship	T24	CUT	CUT	T32	T49	CUT	CUT	CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament	2001	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Match Play	QF		QF	R32	QF	R32
Championship	NT¹	T28	T56	T26	T6	T6
Invitational			T28	T31	T56	T27	T45
Champions

¹Cancelled due to 9/11