Final round: New dad and free spirit MacKenzie wins

text size

Martin/Getty Images

Will MacKenzie, seen here with his two-month old son Maverick, celebrates his second PGA TOUR victory.

MADISON, Miss. (AP) -- At the 11th hole in the Viking Classic on Sunday, Will MacKenzie was trailing good buddy Marc Turnesa by six strokes and thinking it would be great for Turnesa to win his first PGA TOUR title.

Related

Final standings
Notebook: Round 4
Video: Sunday's highlights
Video: Shot of the Day
Video: PGA TOUR Today
Photos: Round 4 images

After all, it looked as if MacKenzie would end up fifth or worse.

"There was a time today when I wanted him to win," MacKenzie said. "When I was so far behind, I really wanted Marc to win it."

Instead, MacKenzie gave himself a talking to and went on to birdie the par-5 18th three straight times to win in a playoff for his second PGA TOUR victory.

"I was sort of chalking it up," MacKenzie said. "Then I thought, play well down the stretch Will, maybe you can get a couple more birdies and then you will have a solid week."

A free spirit who dropped out of golf for almost 10 years and lived in his van for five, MacKenzie rallied to beat Turnesa on the second playoff hole after Brian Gay dropped out on the first extra hole.

On the first playoff hole, MacKenzie stayed alive with a two-putt birdie from 59 feet, while Turnesa sank an 11-footer.

At second extra hole, MacKenzie hit the green in two and Turnesa needed three shots. MacKenzie two putted from 63 feet for another birdie, and won when Turnesa missed his 18-footer.

"I wasn't going to let my blunder yesterday get me down," MacKenzie said.

MacKenzie, who lost the third-round lead after a triple bogey on 18 that included a two penalty strokes, birdied three of the last four holes of regulation for a 4-under 68 to match Turnesa (70) and Gay (68) at 19-under 269 on the Annandale course.

To read the remainder of this story, click here.

TRIVIA QUESTION

Will MacKenzie took home the trophy but another player had a mini-career comeback at the Viking Classic this week. David Toms kicked the Fall Series off with a bang, finishing with four birdies on his back nine to earn a share of eighth place. When was the last time Toms had a top-10 finish on TOUR? See answer at the bottom of the page

Sunday's Best

EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE The par-5, 522-yard fifth hole was the easiest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.487. EAGLES: 4 BIRDIES: 33 PARS: 40 BOGEYS: 1 OTHERS: 0 The par-4, 473-yard 14th hole was the toughest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.372. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 5 PARS: 43 BOGEYS: 27 OTHERS: 3

Round of the Day

Three players shot 66s on Sunday to finish inside the top 10 on the leaderboard. Steve Allan, David Toms and Jason Gore all had scores that were six strokes below par at the end of the week.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"There was a time today when I wanted him to win. When I was so far behind, I really wanted Marc to win it." --Will MacKenzie, who was pulling for good friend Marc Turnesa to take home the title when it looked like he was too far back. Instead, MacKenzie beat his pal in a playoff.

WITH THIS VICTORY: WILL MACKENZIE

EXEMPT STATUS

Will MacKenzie

BIRTHDATE: September 28, 1974 BIRTHPLACE: Greenville, N.C. FAMILY: Wife, Alli; Maverick Noah RESIDENCE: Greenville, N.C. TURNED PROFESSIONAL: 2000 HEIGHT: 5-11 WEIGHT: 170 JOINED PGA TOUR: 2005

Earns two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR that will take him through the 2010 season. Earns exemptions into several invitational tournaments, including the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championships in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii.

VIKING CLASSIC NOTES

Birdied four out of the last six holes of regulation and then the first two playoff holes to capture the Viking Classic in second career start at the event (T66/2005).

Moves into fourth place in career money earned at the Viking Classic, with $654,120.

2008 NOTES

Became the 20th different player (25 victories) in his 30s to win on TOUR this season in 41 tournaments.

Collects $648,000 first-place check, the largest of his career, which brings his season earnings on the PGA TOUR to $883,997 and moves from 178th to No. 97 on the 2008 PGA TOUR money list.

CAREER NOTES

Surpasses the $3-million mark ($3,155,998) in career earnings in 101st professional start on the PGA TOUR.

Win comes two years and 25 days from his first career victory, the 2006 Reno Tahoe Open (August 27, 2006), 54 starts later. It is his fifth top-10 since winning in 2006, including a T4 at the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

Has collected seven career top-10s, including two this season (T4 at 2008 John Deere Classic).

Career playoff record: 1-0

NEWS AND NOTES:

PLAYOFFS? ARE WE TALKING ABOUT PLAYOFFS?

There have been four playoffs at the Viking Classic since it became an official PGA TOUR event in 1994, including wins by Brian Henninger in 1994, Steve Lowery in 2000, D.J. Trahan in 2006 and Will MacKenzie in 2008.

MacKenzie's playoff win marks the 10th playoff of the 2008 season, and the first since Vijay Singh defeated Sergio Garcia and Kevin Sutherland at The Barclays.

IT ALL COMES FULL CIRCLE

Nationwide Tour member Casey Wittenberg, who played this week on a sponsor's exemption, posted a 3-under 69 on Sunday to finish a career-best T4. His previous best effort on TOUR (in 25 career starts) was a tie for 13th finish at the 2004 Masters Tournament when he was playing as an amateur. Wittenberg is currently well inside the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour's official money list, and all but guaranteed of earning a PGA TOUR card for the 2009 season.

Casey Wittenberg, who lost to Nick Flanagan in the 2003 U.S. Amateur Championship, was hoping to become the first player to receive a sponsor's exemption and go on to win since Jason Gore did so at the 2005 84 LUMBER Classic.

Speaking of Gore, he equaled David Toms and Steve Allan with Sunday's best round, his 6-under 66 helping him finish tied for eighth.

GOOD KARMA

Like Will MacKenzie, Bill Haas also posted a good finish this week (tied for fourth) despite calling a two-stroke penalty on himself for breaching the one-ball rule on No. 16 during the second round.

Two of Haas' seven career top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR have now come at the Viking Classic. Making his second start at the Viking Classic, Haas finished in the top-5 this week, just one year after posting a T3 finish at Annandale.

Haas was one of six players to post all four rounds in the 60s this week. Brian Gay, Casey Wittenberg, Greg Kraft, Brad Elder and Woody Austin were the others.

TRIVIA ANSWER

June 24, 2007. That was the last time David Toms, who's currently No. 7 on the PGA TOUR Career Money List, earned a top-10 finish. Toms, who was making his first start at the Viking Classic since 1998, allowed his streak to continue -- the last time Toms failed to crack the top 10 in a season was in 1994.