Loading Photo Galleries ...
Knowing it's good, Mark Wilson raises his fist as his ball heads toward the hole on the 12th hole during the Humana Challenge at the Palmer Private Course at PGA West on Sunday. Wilson holed this shot out of the bunker for a birdie. The victory was the fifth of Wilson's career. / Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun
Mark Wilson of Chicago pumps his fist after sinking a birdie putt on 18 to win the Humana Challenge on Sunday at the Palmer Private Course at PGA West in La Quinta. Crystal Chatham/The Desert Sun
More
LA QUINTA -- About the only real mis-step Mark Wilson had Sunday was breaking the new Bob Hope Memorial Trophy after winning the Humana Challenge in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation.
“It's not my first trophy I've broken,” Wilson joked after scoring a two-shot victory over a trio of players at the Palmer Private Course at PGA West. Greeted on the first tee by President Bill Clinton, Wilson earned his fifth PGA Tour title and the event's $1,008,000 first-place check. But Wilson ended the day in gathering darkness by breaking a large ring off the Hope Trophy.
In the gathering darkness on the Palmer Course at PGA West, Wilson rolled a tough-as-nails 14-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to clinch a two-shot victory over a trio of pursuers in the revamped Humana Challenge in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation.
“It feels good,” said Wilson, who is a member at Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert but lives in Illinois. “The day went not as planned, really, but I guess it really never does.”
In the first desert PGA Tour event to be decided in 72 holes in the last 53 years, Wilson's birdie putt on the 18th hole of the Palmer Course, coming well after the sun had ducked behind the Santa Rosa Mountains, capped a 3-under 69 in the fourth round on a day that saw players scramble to finish their third rounds in the morning following Saturday's suspension of play. The 69 gave Wilson a 24-under 264 total, two shots ahead of John Mallinger, Robert Garrigus and Johnson Wagner.
Garrigus had an eagle putt that could have forced a tie on the final hole, but rolled the ball just past the left edge of the cup. Garrigus also missed the 10-foot putt coming back to settle for a par, a final-round 68 and a tie for second.
Wilson's winning putt came just as darkness hit the course after a long day that saw players have to play as many as 11 holes from the third round that was suspended by strong winds and course damage Saturday. Both Wilson and Garrigus said it was getting difficult to see as they putted on the final green in the growing darkness.
“We were finishing today. I could see enough,” Garrigus said. “I did think Mark was going to make that putt, 100 percent. He had been putting awesome all day and he doesn't really miss those when he gets an opportunity.”
Wilson had a 60-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th hole but left it 14 feet short, and Wilson said it might have been the dark that caused him to come up short.
“When I got over that putt and read it, it just looked like it should be faster over the hill, the darkness had a little something to do with it,” Wilson said. “Then Chris, my caddie, read that (last) one perfectly, said it was going to break an inch to the right. I started outside the hole, which I wasn't totally trying to do. But it took that inch break at the very end.”
The victory earned Wilson $1,008,000 from the new $5.6 million purse and gave the 37-year-old his fifth career PGA Tour victory.
Wilson finished his third round Sunday morning at La Quinta Country Club with a bogey, a birdie and a par to complete a 67. That meant Wilson started the final round at 21 under and with the three-shot lead, but he missed the green on the par-3 third hole and made bogey to drop to 20 under. That started a wild day of players making runs at the lead as Wilson floated through the first 10 holes.
The first player to tie Wilson was Brandt Snedeker thanks to his birdies on the second and fifth hole that pushed him to 20 under. John Mallinger joined the 20-under club when he holed a pitch shot on the par-5 sixth hole for an eagle. Garrigus was even par for the day through four holes but reached 20 under with birdies on the sixth and eighth holes.
Wilson's round picked up with a birdie on the par-5 11th before what might have been the shot of the day, a holed bunker shot for a birdie on the par-3 12th.
“Holing the bunker shot on 12 really gave me the momentum to go in the right direction,” Wilson said.
Garrigus and Mallinger each birdied the par-5 14th to get back into a tie at 22 under. Wilson and Garrigus pushed the lead to 23 under with dueling birdies on the short par-4 16th.
“We both hit very nice wedges in there and I hit a great putt,” Wilson said. “It looked like maybe it was not going to catch the left edge, but it caught the edge and dropped. Then Robert rolled his on top. Then as we walked off the green he said something about back and forth we go, back and forth we go.”
Mallinger parred his last four holes to fall short with a 66, while Wagner made a late charge with four birdies in his last eight holes for a 65 but never had a share of the lead.
Garrigus opened the door for Wilson when he three-putted the par-3 17th hole from just off the green, while Wilson hit a better first putt from closer but on the same line and made par.
“But 18, people can make eagles pretty easily with a good iron shot,” Wilson said. “Especially Robert. He hits it. He can get down there and have a 6- or 7- iron.”
Instead, Garrigus hit a 5- iron that he said he hit a little high on the face of the club, leaving him on the wrong level of the green. Wilson hit a 2-hybrid to the back of the green, setting up the putting dramatics.
“You want somebody to win it, not necessarily lose it,” Wilson said. “So it was neat to have him making birdies back and forth.”
