Wilson finally PGA winner

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 14, 2006 | by Arnie Stapleton Associated Press

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- Now, former BYU golfer Dean Wilson can be known for something other than being Annika Sorenstam's playing partner.

The 36-year-old Hawaiian, paired with Sorenstam when she became the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour at the 2003 Colonial, earned his first win on tour Sunday.

He birdied the second hole of a sudden-death playoff at the International at Castle Pines, topping Tom Lehman, who was trying to become the first Ryder Cup captain to win a PGA Tour event during his term since Jack Nicklaus won the Masters in 1986.

Wilson, whose previous best finish was a tie for third at the Texas Valero Open, said playing with Sorenstam "was a great experience. But that's what I always kept telling myself: 'Dang it, I got to win a tournament so I can be known for something else.' "

After Lehman barely missed wide on a 30-foot putt for birdie, Wilson sank a 6-footer to cap a long and arduous journey for the 36- year-old player from Kaneohe, Hawaii.

"There is an internal battle that you have with trying to compete with everyone else on the mainland. When I said I wanted to (play on tour) and that was my goal, it seems like I heard a lot of people saying it can't be done. You can't beat those guys, they're so good," Wilson said.

He wasn't good enough in high school to get a college scholarship and wasn't good enough at BYU to jump right to the PGA Tour after graduation. So, he took his game overseas, playing two years in Australia, two in Canada and four in Asia before qualifying for the Japanese tour, where he won a handful of tournaments.

"Finally got my Tour card here just four years ago at age 32," Wilson said. "So it was quite a battle. It is just really satisfying to be here holding the trophy."

Not to mention the $990,000 winner's check.

"It's no fun finishing second," a bummed-out Lehman said. "You play to win."

Lehman would've vaulted into seventh place in the Ryder Cup standings with a victory. But the captain of the U.S. team that will travel to Ireland next month to try to bring home the cup for the first time since 1999 said he had no intention of playing had that happened: "My putting is just a little bit too erratic."

It did Lehman in on the par-5, 492-yard 17th hole in regulation, where he was short on an eagle putt that would have wrapped up his first win since the 2000 Phoenix Open.

Lehman hit a 5-iron to within 15 feet and figured he had the five- point eagle in his pocket.

"It looked so fast and it was so shiny going down the hill, and I hit a beautiful putt right on line and it came up about four inches short," Lehman said. "I was quite shocked that I could leave that putt short. I didn't think there was any way I could leave it short."

His tap-in for birdie tied him with Wilson at 34 points.

Under the special Stableford scoring system that is used nowhere else on the PGA Tour, golfers at the International get five points for eagles, two for birdies, nothing for pars and minus-one for bogeys and minus-three for double-bogeys or worse.

"It's a good thing I had this format this week," said Wilson, who would have been 9 under in stroke play, where Lehman would have won it at minus-13.