O’Mearas connecting

Shaun O’Meara did his best not to throw his father under the bus.

Summing up the gist of his childhood, the UC Irvine freshman plainly said, “I was really close to my mom.”

The life of a pro golfer can take its toll on a family, but it never entirely ate up the O’Mearas. Still, the past is there and Mark O’Meara realizes it.

“As a father growing up, I was on the road a lot,” said Mark O’Meara, who will play in the Toshiba Classic March 3-9 at Newport Beach Country Club. “Overall, I missed out on quite a bit.”

But the beauty of it all for father and son is that is in the past. Shaun and his father are now connecting. Shaun has been doing his best to learn from his father and improve with each day.

While growing up in Florida, Shaun O’Meara did not initially take to golf. He instead played football, hockey and baseball. It wasn’t until he was 12 that he actually took up golf.

But the more he played the game, the more hooked he became. In addition, as the past faded with time, Shaun and Mark drew closer.

“As I started to play golf I started to connect with my dad and had more things to talk to him about,” Shaun said. “I’m really close to my dad now. I love going to watch him play and there is so much I could learn from him. I couldn’t ask for more.”

The O’Meara connection could have been seen in early December when Shaun and his father played in the Del Webb Father-Son Challenge in Orlando.

They finished third, but Mark came away impressed with his son and became more confident of Shaun’s potential.

“He played unbelievably,” Mark said of his son. “I asked him, ‘Why aren’t you playing like that at school.’ On a scale of one to 10, he played at a nine. I played at a five. If I could have played at least on a decent level, we could have won.

“He’s got as much talent than I ever had at his age,” Mark continued. “Unfortunately there is more talent out there than when I was playing. The people he’s playing against started younger than he did. Nowadays these kids start playing at age 5.”

Shaun is doing his best to improve and learn while in his first year at UCI. His start with the Anteaters is not going as well as he would like. But Mark said his son has had a great attitude about it. Plus, Shaun is finding other ways to help out the program. And Mark has been there to support in that quest as well.

When UCI men’s golf coach Paul Smolinski asked his players for help in fundraising, Shaun knew what to do. He asked his father to be a part of the fundraising. Or, rather, Shaun reminded Mark.

Before Shaun moved to Irvine, Mark told his son that he would be there for him in whatever capacity he needed, including fundraising.

In November, Mark offered an auction for a foursome to play with him. It was sold for $12,000, Smolinski said.

“We have to get it higher next year,” Mark O’Meara said. “I like helping out. I get more enjoyment out of it.”

Mark O’Meara, who won the Masters Tournament and the British Open in 1998, has also given advice to the UCI players from time to time.

“It’s been great having a guy like that around our players and giving them advice,” Smolinski said. “I think just time with them will help all the guys.”

It has certainly helped Shaun. It also doesn’t hurt that Shaun also played several rounds with Tiger Woods, a close friend of Mark O’Meara’s.

And, when Shaun plays with his father, Mark is sure to remind his son to always give it his best. But even then nothing is guaranteed, not even when you’re a son of a renowned professional golfer.

As Mark said, “golf is such a fickle and crazy game.”

A little more than a year into the Champions Tour, Mark is still looking for his first victory. However, his debut was successful last year.

He had four second-place finishes, he was in the top 10 seven times and he earned $1,117,149.

He’s hoping he can get that first win close to home — he grew up in Mission Viejo — and close to his son.