Even in defeat, Williamson proves he can compete on TOUR  PGATOUR.com Correspondent CROMWELL, Conn. -- It wasn't exactly a Cinderella story, more a possible romantic novel in the first Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands.  Jay Williamson overcame a driver problem to record his best finish ever on the PGA TOUR in Hartford. (Michael Cohen/WireImage)
Jay Williamson, the local hero from nearby Trinity College in Hartford on a week off from the Nationwide Tour, trying to become the first player on a sponsor's exemption to win a PGA TOUR event since Jason Gore at the 84 Lumber Classic in 2005. And Sunday's finish was major league, even with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson resting until July. But Woods and Mickelson would have been hard-pressed to duplicate the final-round fireworks of Williamson and Hunter Mahan, who prevailed with a 2-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole after making a 7-footer for birdie on the last hole of regulation to force the tournament's 19th playoff. "It was crazy out there, and we both really hit some great shots when we had to," said Mahan, 25, who became the PGA TOUR's youngest winner this year after he tied for second at River Highlands in 2006. "We just really showed up when we had to, and I think we both played the way we wanted to win the tournament. We both went out there to try to win it, and nobody really gave us anything. "A couple of times I thought I was going to build a little bit of a lead, and Jay just made some great shot, made some big putts. It was tough. It was so tough." Williamson, 40, had chance to win on the final hole of regulation but didn't hit an 11-foot birdie try hard enough, the putt curling off to the left. Mahan then converted to force overtime. "I'd obviously never been in that position to win before, and the nerves got me," Williamson said. "I was so fortunate to be right in [Williamson's] line, and I saw it broke a lot," Mahan said. "So I definitely played a little bit more break than it kind of looks." The drama had just begun. After Williamson hit a 170-yard 7 iron to 7 feet, Mahan lofted a wedge from 137 yards to 2 feet. After Williamson hit his birdie try to the right, Mahan tapped in for his first TOUR victory in 123 starts. "I didn't want to leave it short and just pushed it a tad," Williamson said. "I hit some great putts, but when I really needed it coming down the stretch, it just wasn't there. I don't know if I was out of gas, but I was close to empty. "I really wanted to win. I really felt like it was my day. I did everything I could to win, and I'll grow from this. I'm very, very disappointed because I fought as hard as I could fight, but to get beat the way I did is the way it's supposed to be," he added. "To do what he did the last two holes was fabulous. Unfortunately for me, Hunter was better at the end. He deserved to win. He played better than I did." While Mahan was deserving, a Williamson victory would have been filled with the romance that makes sports memorable. Williamson played hockey and baseball -- not golf -- at Trinity College, where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in political science. He bounced between the Nationwide Tour and PGA TOUR from 1995 through 2006, when he got a major medical extension for this year because of foot problems. He started 2007 on the Nationwide Tour, won the Fort Smith Classic in Arkansas on May 9 and was seventh on the money list when he accepted the sponsor's exemption to the tournament about 10 miles from where he went to college. "You don't really want to know about the Nationwide Tour," Williamson said. "The Nationwide Tour, really, has been the greatest thing for me. I can't really explain it, but it's doing exactly what they want it to do for me. ... I was basically fired from the TOUR. I'm not bitter. I didn't do what I needed to do. I wasn't good enough.
"The Nationwide Tour has made me better. It has given me an opportunity to feel like I'm a golfer again. I don't necessarily have a chip on my shoulder, but my skin is thicker. I've proven the last three days, especially, I'm not just taking up space. It has given me some confidence. As I've told my wife [Marnie] for a while now, I'm just good enough to think I can play out here." Williamson demonstrated that when he opened with two 4-under 66s, the second fashioned despite a screw coming loose in his driver on his third hole, No. 12. "I hit a good drive on 10, put my driver in my bag, 11 is a par 3, so I took the club out on 12 and set in on the ground," Williamson said. "I used one of those R7 Quads from TaylorMade, and I think it has five screws." Williamson set his driver on the ground. Was it broken? He knew a screw had come loose, knew he didn't have a repair kit, doubted he could use the club again and didn't know what to do. He called for a rules official. "I'm thinking, `Oh, no, is he going to get disqualified?'" said Williamson's wife, Marnie. "It felt like it could have been a commercial," Jay said. It was Williamson's good fortune that one of the rules officials didn't leave home without his Swiss Army knife. Playing partner Jeff Brehaut lent Williamson his utility device, too. The club was fixed. "He wasn't home for Father's Day, and we haven't given him a present yet," Marnie said. "We're going to give him a tightening tool for the driver." Despite playing with 12-time TOUR winner and 2001 PGA Championship winner David Toms, Williamson gutted out a 67 in the third round to take a one-shot lead over Mahan. When asked if hockey had toughened up Williamson, his former coach at Trinity said no. "I'd say it's the school of hard knocks that toughened him up," John Dunham said. "He has got more pressure on him than anybody in this tournament because of his lack of status. He's carrying a helluva burden. ... I had a talk with Jay when he was at the Honda Classic in Florida about making a commitment. Commit to the Nationwide Tour or take a job someplace." Dunham said his Trinity teammates used to call Williamson "the Hammer." He had a big shot. He played left wing and the point on the power play. He scored 60 goals in his career, one of the top-10 scorers in school history. "Jay wasn't a finesse guy," Dunham said. "He wasn't a stick handler who could beat two to three guys, although I think there were times when he thought he could. He was more of a small power forward. One of those guys you wanted unloading down the wing. "I wouldn't have said he was the toughest or most hard-nosed guys I ever coached, but I've seen him become much more battle-hardened out here, much more resilient." Dunham, an 8-handicap who helped coach Trinity's golf team in the early 1980s, said as a senior Williamson went to a fall tournament at Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, Mass. Trinity didn't have enough players. Williamson filled in. He shot such a strong round with such little preparation that the golf coach at the time asked him if he thought about golf for a living. "That planted a seed," Dunham said. "What I've noticed is a much better touch with his hands chipping and putting now. He's getting shots from 110 to 120 yards within 10 feet. Five, eight years ago, he couldn't do that out here. I've seen an evolution in him. "A lot of these guys have been going to the (David) Leadbetter School since they were 8. Jay didn't really do this until he was 22. He just might be catching up at a later age." Williamson relished the challenge of trying to hold a lead entering the final round of a PGA TOUR event for the first time. "I'm not scared of it," he said as 4-year-old son Justin sat in dad's lap. "To be honest with you, it would make my life a lot easier. My life is way too complicated right now." After taking his wife and two sons to Dinosaur State Park in nearby Rocky Hill for the second straight day Sunday -- his brother, Steve, and 8-year-old daughter Whitney arrived from St. Louis for the last seven holes -- Williamson further proved he was a golfer again. When daddy's putt from 7 feet skidded past the hole, Whitney Williamson turned and buried her face in her mom's pink and white floral pattern skirt, a tear skidding down the 8-year-old's cheek. "I really thought he was going to win, and it would be so sad if Whitney wasn't here," Marnie Williamson said. "She's aware of things now. She's a swimmer. She's a sports fan. "Everyone here just has been so nice. I just feel sorry for the crowd because I think they all wanted Jay to win." A half-hour later, Whitney was sitting on daddy's left knee, grabbing for his Diet Coke as he talked in the media center. She was laughing. Everyone could take a cure from Whitney -- and Marnie. "It was awesome," Marnie Williamson said. "I thought a couple of times I put Jay away, but he fought and fought and fought so hard," Mahan said. "We're down two shots with four to play, and we picked one up on 15, 16 and 17 to roll the drums," said Williamson's caddie, Mike Mollet. "But the kid played great." "We couldn't get rid of him," Williamson said. "I got a headache right now you wouldn't believe." Williamson was 28 when he played in his first Canon Greater Hartford Open. Mahan was 18. He got an exemption from Canon in 2000 as the American Junior Golf Association player of the year in 1999. Marnie and Jay went to the same high school, John Burroughs, in St. Louis. At 18, they hadn't begun dating each other. At age 40, Jay Williamson is a golfer again. "My life certainly changed for the better (Sunday)," Williamson said. "It could have changed for a lot better. Part of me is really upset. Part of me is excited." Williamson won $648,000, only $12,000 less than his best PGA TOUR year in 2004. He can receive unlimited sponsors exemptions the rest of the year, but he'll have to weave his way through the Nationwide Tour, or as PGA TOUR non-member to nail down a TOUR card. This much he knows: He's going to an outing in St. Louis Monday and then the Buick Open in Flint, Mich. "I've never really been to a golf tournament as a spectator, but I would think Hunter and I put on a pretty good performance for the fans," Williamson said. "I learned I can play with these guys. I'm going to be a golfer for a while." Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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