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By Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

He is openly charming and disarming in a Redneck Riviera sort of way. He also is as natural as an uncut diamond.

He is as honest as the day is long, just a genuine tobacco-chewing good ol' boy blessed with the uncanny ability to bore holes into the nastiest of winds with his golf ball.

Boo Weekley is learning what it's like to be a PGA TOUR Champion. (Michael Cohen/WireImage)

He is one-of-kind player on the PGA TOUR, given his aw-shucks background and his affinity for wearing rain pants rather than de rigueur micro-fiber slacks.

Boo Weekley, with roots firmly planted in the sandy soil of the Florida Panhandle, loves to toss out "yes sirs'' and "no sirs'' before elaborating on answers to questions while finishing with an omnipresent "I reckon.''

All of the above fits him like his calling card rain pants, the ones golf's fashion police from Adidas, Polo or Nike might ticket him for having the audacity to don. Think Weekley cares? No sir, not a wit, I reckon.

But here's the thing most admirable about him. He never stopped believing in himself or being himself. Not after laying an egg as an oddity in his first go 'round on the PGA TOUR. Not after failing to gain a victory in four seasons on the Nationwide Tour, especially in 2006 when he rose to eighth on the final money list, set a Tour record for greens in regulation (74.31 percent) and played his way back onto the PGA TOUR. And not after missing a trifling 3-footer on the 72nd hole of The Honda Classic at PGA National earlier this year that would have provided him with that elusive victory.

"It never stopped me from thinking I was going to win, because I knew in my heart I was going to win,'' Weekley said.

Weekley passed those comments along to the media on Monday, April 16, after chipping in on the 71st and 72nd holes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at the windswept Verizon Heritage. Oh, and he chipped in on each after hitting horrible chip shots to set up the chip-ins.

So what did Weekley, who edged Ernie Els by a shot, think about winning?

"It was just a matter of time -- I reckon my stars lined up in the sky,'' he said, before referencing his costly miss at The Honda Classic. "That putt, still to this day, that 3-footer, still gives me a little bit of a jitter.''

That truthfulness, his nickname (taken from Yogi Bear's sidekick Boo Boo) and his story are what draw media types to Weekley like a magnet. Add his first victory to the attraction equation and it wasn't an upset that the media moths came to the flame the instant he arrived in New Orleans less than 24 hours after his victory. The buzz made it difficult for him to prepare for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

The best Boo moment came when he was asked what he'd be doing if it weren't for golf.

"Hunting and fishing. There ain't no question,'' he said.

No, not recreationally, the reporter said, what would Weekley be doing for a living?

"I don't know, but I can tell you what I wouldn't be doing,'' said Weekley. "I wouldn't be doing no hydro-blast. I wouldn't be playing with electricity. I ain't playing with too many things that are going to kill me.''

Weekley explained he had done hydro-blasting for parts of three years, climbing down into mammoth storage tanks at a Monsanto plant near Pensacola, Fla. He hydro-blasted away even while knocking around on the obscure mini-tours, where he won 26 times in a four-year stretch -- the same ones where Heath Slocum and Bubba Watson, who attended the same high school (Milton) as Weekley, got their starts.

It was no surprise an overwhelmed Weekley dragged around the TPC Louisiana course in a fog, shooting 77-72 to miss the cut. Later he admitted the needle on his fuel gauge had hit 'E' as he got acquainted with the joys and demands of being a champion.

"This has been a long week,'' he said as he headed back home to Jay, Fla., where there was sure to be a celebration of Weekley's overdue breakthrough. "I was not mentally ready to play. This week was a blur. There were so many people pulling me in different directions. I didn't have time to practice.''

But at least Weekley learned a valuable lesson.

"Next time I'll handle it better,'' he said.

Weekley's ball-striking suggests there will be a next time, perhaps as early as this season of his second tour of duty. The first in 2002 was an extremely rude awakening, considering Weekley made just five cuts in 24 events as his game and his confidence spiraled down a black hole.

"My confidence wasn't what it is now,'' he said. "I didn't belong out here, which is why I didn't stay out here long and didn't get back until this year. I reckon you'd say I was lost the whole time. Every city I went to, I was lost on the golf course or finding my motel.''

In a quiet moment on the Nationwide Tour last year, Weekley reflected on the first-time failure. He knew his game and his confidence had grown exponentially. And he knew it was time to put up or shut up.

"Now I feel like I have a lot of things to prove to a lot of people,'' he said then.

Not anymore Boo. Not anymore.

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