Wilson Takes Care of Business Quickly
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Mar. 6--PALM BEACH GARDENS -- Jangled nerves helped shape the dramatic ending to the Honda Classic, so it was fitting that steely Mark Wilson won Monday's playoff for his first PGA Tour title.
Wilson birdied the third playoff hole, and second of the day, to defeat Jose Coceres, Camilo Villegas and Boo Weekley on the Champion course at PGA National.
The tears came afterward, with most coming from Wilson's caddie, Chris Jones, who had reason to enjoy his boss' win.
On Friday, Jones had told a playing partner what club Wilson had just used on a shot, which is a rules violation.
Wilson reported the infraction after completing the hole and took the 2-stroke penalty, which loomed large on Sunday when Wilson was scrambling to get into the playoff, and then had to hole a 31½-foot putt to survive Sunday's first playoff hole and make it to Monday's continuation.
"I just felt really bad about what I had done to him," Jones said. "He just said, 'Let's go on, mistakes happen.' A lot of guys wouldn't even have called that on themselves."
While errant shots had his three opponents scrambling, Wilson struck the six shots he needed Monday morning straight and true.
Villegas and Weekley, both looking for their first Tour wins, bogeyed the 530-yard, par-4 10th, the first hole played Monday, after darkness caused the playoff to be halted after one hole Sunday.
Weekley's drive went through the fairway and burrowed into the rough.
"I didn't have a chance. It was buried, the worst lie I had all week," he said.
Weekley tried to muscle it out of the rough with a hybrid club, but it went 98 yards.
"I just keep putting myself in this position and sooner or later it is going to happen. They can't stop it," said Weekley, who missed a 3-foot, 3-inch par putt on the final hole of regulation Sunday that would have given him the outright win.
Villegas could not get up and down after his approach went in the rough, as he missed a 5-foot, 10-inch par putt.
"I wasn't shaking as much as I thought," Villegas said about the miss. "It's a learning process and we're one step further."
Coceres stayed in it by sinking a 9-foot par putt on 10, but couldn't make a birdie of similar distance on the par 3 17th after watching Wilson sink his birdie from 10½ feet.
Wilson said he plans on keeping Jones on his bag, despite the transgression.
"Chris is a great caddie. I'm sure he won't do it again. You know, it really didn't cost him a dime in the end," Wilson said. |
