MARK WILSON WINS SONY OPEN AND TRIP TO MASTERS

FROM THE PGATOUR.COM WEBSITE
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
HONOLULU -- Six minutes. That's how long Mark Wilson had between the end of his third round and the start of his fourth round Sunday during the marathon 36-hole finale of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Six minutes. After signing his scorecard, Wilson had to race back to the clubhouse at Waialae, where he had stashed a chicken sandwich and a few sleeves of golf balls, then race back to the first tee box. It was a beat-the-clock moment.
Fortunately, the lay-out is Waialae is relatively compact, and Wilson is in pretty good shape. He made it back in four minutes. Plenty of time to spare. But not much time to dwell on the fact that he was leading the tournament, that he was 18 holes away from his third US Tour win.
That's probably a good thing. If you're going to be the 54-hole leader, not having to sleep on that lead could be beneficial. So is being able to maintain the momentum and stay on the kind of roll that Wilson got on Sunday.
Wilson played 36 holes Sunday and never made a bogey. He started the day two shots off the lead, climbed steadily up the leaderboard, shot a 5-under 65 to lead by one stroke after the third round ended, and never wavered after that, winning by two shots at 16 under.
"It was probably helpful that we played 36 holes and never stopped," Wilson said.
He was rock solid. Steady. For Wilson, relatively short off the tee, that's the formula for success. That's how he's managed to win three US Tour events. That's why he'll be making his first appearance at the Masters in April, thanks to his win on Sunday.
It may also be why he's a bit underappreciated. After all, winning any Tour event is difficult. But Wilson, who turned pro in 1997, has won three times in his last 107 starts. Compare that achievement to say, Matt Kuchar, whose three career wins have been spread over his last 207 starts. Or Justin Rose, who has two Tour wins (both of them last year) in 172 career starts.
Kuchar and Rose have higher profiles, and each is well deserved. Maybe Wilson should have a higher profile too.
"He's a steady player with a great short game," said Kuchar, paired with Wilson all day Sunday. "He was certainly steady with a great short game today."
Wilson is more worried about appreciating what he's achieved than wondering just how bright his star is shining. He readily acknowledges that he's not a top-tier guy who wins one week and then immediately puts the game face back on the next week.
"From what I've learned over the years, the more you succeed out here, the more people expect of you," he said. "I'm going to enjoy this like crazy. Last time at Mayakoba (when he won in 2009), I enjoyed it. I just soaked it in, went to the Honda (Classic) the next week and shot a pair of 72s and missed the cut. But I was still the happiest guy missing the cut. ... I let these soak in.
"That being said, I'd certainly want to play just as well every time I tee it up. I'm not going to be complacent. But I'm very grateful for the three wins and all the other great finishes out on Tour that I've had."
Sunday definitely was a great finish for Wilson, but it was not a frantic one. Frankly, he expected more heat from his pursuers.
But other than Tim Clark, whose final nine-hole flurry resulted in a 6-under 64, nobody really made him perspire too much. Since Clark started the round five shots behind Wilson, it was a difficult task to erase that kind of deficit against such a steady presence.
Clark did have an eagle putt on his last hole (the ninth) that, had he made it, would have tied for the lead at the time at 15 under.
"I was coming from behind, and always had a lot of work to do today to win the tournament," Clark said. "Mark always had it in his control and he was able to finish it off."
Wilson didn't look at a leaderboard but he didn't really need to. Kuchar and Steve Marino were two of his three closest chasers going into the final round (Jimmy Walker was the other) and both were in Wilson's group.
Kuchar couldn't make anything happen all afternoon and neither did Marino until late in the round. He posted consecutive birdies to get to 13 under going into the 72nd hole. After a brilliant second shot off a tricky lie, Marino had a chance at eagle from 27 feet. Roll it in and he would force Wilson to make his five-footer for birdie to avoid a playoff.
"I felt like if I could make that putt ... he had a tough putt, four- or five-footer straight down the hill," Marino said. "It's tough to see which way it's going to break. So I felt like if I could make that putt, I felt like I would have a pretty good chance of getting into a playoff."
But he didn't and Wilson calmly sank the birdie putt.In actuality, though, the key putt came on the previous hole, the par-3 17th, when Wilson found the bunker with his tee shot. He blasted out to 10 feet and then saved his par and his two-stroke advantage.
Wilson said he "wasn't stressing" about the situation but it did cross his mind that he had not bogeyed any hole since his 14th hole in the second round Saturday. He thought: Why start now?
"I don't have too many bogey-free rounds in my career," Wilson said, "so it's pretty cool to have two in the same day."
It's also pretty cool to have three US Tour wins, and finally get to celebrate one with the wife, as Mark did with Amy, who was waiting for him on the 18th green. It's the first time she's seen one of his wins in person.
The next time Wilson will play in Hawaii will be at next year's Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Amy will be there. So will the kids.
"Hopefully, they'll be running out on the green to give me a big hug," said the 36-year-old man from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, richer by $990,000 for his latest win.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 280 (4x70)
1 Mark Wilson 65 67 65 67 264
T2 Tim Clark 68 68 66 64 266
T2 Steve Marino  65 67 66 68 266
4 Jimmy Walker  68 65 66 68 267
T5 Matt Bettencourt 68 65 68 67 268
T5 Matt Kuchar 65 68 66 69 268
T7 Shigeki Maruyama 65 65 70 69 269
T7 Roland Thatcher  67 65 68 69 269
T9 Chris Riley 66 69 66 69 270
T9 Jerry Kelly 68 67 69 66 270
T9 Steve Stricker 69 67 68 66 270
T9 Davis Love III 68 66 67 69 270
T13 Rory Sabbatini  69 66 67 69 271
T13 Anthony Kim  71 64 68 68 271
T13 Chad Campbell  67 67 68 69 271
T13 Tag Ridings 68 67 68 68 271
T13 Justin Rose 65 68 68 70 271
T13 Stuart Appleby  64 66 69 72 271
T13 Brian Gay  69 68 70 64 271
T20 Brendon de Jonge 68 67 66 71 272
T20 Jeff Overton 67 68 68 69 272
T20 John Senden 71 65 67 69 272
T20 Jason Day 69 67 66 70 272
T20 Kevin Na  67 67 69 69 272
T20 Cameron Beckman 69 67 68 68 272
T20 Alex Prugh 70 67 66 69 272
T27 Fredrik Jacobson 68 66 69 70 273
T27 Boo Weekley 68 66 69 70 273
T27 Marc Leishman 65 69 73 66 273
T30 Arjun Atwal 67 68 69 70 274
T30 Chris Kirk 68 67 70 69 274
T30 John Merrick  69 67 72 66 274
T30 Chris DiMarco 67 67 71 69 274
T34 Daniel Summerhays 71 64 70 70 275
T34 D.J. Brigman 70 66 71 68 275
T34 Jarrod Lyle 68 65 71 71 275
T34 Colt Knost 68 69 68 70 275
T34 Steven Bowditch  67 70 69 69 275
T34 Aaron Baddeley 73 64 70 68 275
T34 Jonathan Byrd 69 68 68 70 275
T34 Spencer Levin 70 67 71 67 275
T42 Ernie Els 70 65 67 74 276
T42 Nate Smith 65 68 69 74 276
T42 Brandt Jobe  67 70 70 69 276
T42 Kevin Chappell 70 67 68 71 276
T46 Charlie Wi  68 68 70 71 277
T46 WC Liang  66 70 70 71 277
T46 Webb Simpson 68 69 68 72 277
T46 Jason Bohn  68 69 72 68 277
50 Michael Connell 65 69 68 76 278
51 Billy Mayfair 67 70 70 72 279
52 Ryan Palmer 68 69 70 73 280
53 Michael Sim 68 67 72 74 281
T54 Jesper Parnevik 70 66 73 73 282
T54 Matt McQuillan 68 69 71 74 282
56 Jason Dufner  69 67 72 79 287