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By DAVE LAGARDE, PGATOUR.com Correspondent

He could have whined, moaned and have wrapped himself in a cloak of self-pity. He could have said enough is enough, that there was no sense beating his head against the brick wall that is competitive golf, that, metaphorically speaking, he was a dead pro walking.

But the pit bull inside Jay Williamson would have none of it. The dog kept growling at him in 2006.

"Keep going."

"Persevere."

"Hang in there."

"I don't care how I get back to the TOUR, I just want to get there," Jay Williamson said. (Ehrmann/WireImage)

Persistence doesn't always pay off in a game where absolutely nothing is guaranteed. But it did for Williamson, who began the 2007 season in a terribly uncomfortable position, with no status on the PGA TOUR for the first time in 11 years.

"I've never been the kind to just disappear," said Williamson, 40, who accepted a one-year Nationwide Tour exemption made available to players who have competed for at least five seasons on the PGA TOUR. "I felt like I was too good to give up."

Williamson's dogged self-belief was rewarded a little more than a week ago. He completed a comeback with a comeback, winning the Fort Smith Classic presented by Stephens, Inc. by rallying from six strokes down with 18 to play. He did it with a superlative 7-under-par 63 that capped a week where he played his last 53 holes without a bogey blemish on his scorecard. He needed every par and birdie to slither into the winner's circle, defeating Garrett Willis and Justin Bolli by a shot.

And to think a road-weary Williamson began the round with a never-on-a-Sunday vibe, having failed to break 71 in any of his previous four final rounds of 2007.

"I was really in a terrible mood," Williamson said. "It was my fourth week on the road. I hadn't played well on Sundays. I just wanted to go home."

A birdie on the first hole created a spark. All of a sudden Williamson was on the scent and on fire.

"I felt really in the game," he said. "I said, 'Hey, make a few more and you can compete for the championship.'"

That was an interesting premise, given Williamson's body of work in a professional career that has spanned 17 seasons. He competed in 337 PGA TOUR-sanctioned events, including 279 in 10 years on TOUR) before scoring that elusive triumph in start No. 338. Prior to that, Williamson had won the Kansas Open in 1991.

"That was the first time I ever won a golf tournament, period," Williamson said of his win in Kansas.

Williamson is a St. Louis native who played hockey and baseball at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. On a lark he joined the golf team in the spring of his final semester.

"I shot 72 in a tournament and thought maybe I'll turn pro," he said, laughing.

It is 18 years later and Williamson is still plugging away.

"Guess I'll have to be a golfer for a little while longer now."

That's because Williamson cannot bear to think of the alternatives.

"Who wants to hire a 40-year-old?" he said.

Nevertheless, Williamson admits he often is torn between his career and family life. He and his wife Marnie have a daughter and two sons.

"I live two different lives," he said. "I have my life on the road as a golfer and my life at home. When I'm home I really don't have time for golf. And to think I'm out here competing against these young guys. Golf is all they do."

That's why Williamson experienced an even greater sense of satisfaction with his victory, which was worth $94,500. He moved from No. 83 on the Nationwide Tour money list to No. 10 with $111,518. The top 25 at the end of the year earn PGA TOUR cards. He also could rejoin the PGA TOUR with two more victories in 2007.

"I don't care how I get back to the TOUR, I just want to get there," Williamson said. "I don't want to go back to the [qualifying] school. I didn't make it through second stage last year. Winning was a big boost for me.

"Playing on the Nationwide (Tour) is great for me. It has forced me to get better, to go out and show I can play and beat these younger kids. And if nothing else, I know I have a place to play next year. That's huge considering where I was at the beginning of this year."

The victory couldn't have come at a more perfect time. The Nationwide Tour took last week off. Since Fort Smith is near enough to St. Louis to drive, Williamson had a five-hour joy ride with his trophy on the way home, where he was reunited with his family, whom he has seen for about 24 hours in the last month.

Williamson spent the driving time reflecting on the soul-searching that golf forces a player to do from time to time, on where he was way back when and where he is now. Buoyed by victory he was more than happy to put the key in the lock of his front door, open it and welcome the chance to play daddy, not golf.

Friday was Whitney Williamson's eighth birthday and Jay was there to help her blow out the candles. He also gave her a fitting present, the trophy he won in Fort Smith. It also left him with a challenge.

"Now," he said, "I'd like to get a trophy for each of my kids. Wouldn't it be great if I could do it before the end of the year?"