FedExCup, Tiger, family? Wilson juggling the world
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
LEMONT, Ill. -- Mark Wilson knew the "multitudes" were out at Cog Hill chasing Tiger Woods on Friday. So what else is new?
But Wilson treated his dad, his aunt and the other 15 or so friends in his gallery to a pretty good show, too -- firing a 66 that vaulted him to 7 under and the top of the leaderboard at the midway point of the BMW Championship.
As luck would have it, Wilson's faithful will be among Woods' multitude on Saturday when they play together for the fifth time as pros. But the two go back to the 1992 U.S. Junior where the 16-year-old Woods rallied from 2 down with five to go to beat Wilson, who was a year older, 1 up in the title match.
"I think I won every other hole, actually, coming in," recalled Woods, who is tied with Wilson at 7 under. "But it was a good match. ... I've known Mark a long time. Mark hasn't changed one bit."
A Wilson victory come Sunday, a day when he and his wife Amy have already planned to celebrate their son Lane's birthday, wouldn't exactly be a life-changer. But it would be a Cinderfella story of the first order.
Wilson plays out of Cog Hill and lives about 25 minutes north in Elmhust, Ill., where he's listed among the notable residents in Wikipedia. Wilson was raised about two hours away in Menomonee Falls, Wisc., a Madison suburb, too.
"There's certainly a lot more connections, other people there, and (I) saw a lot of people that were saying, 'Go, Elmhurst,'" Wilson said. "It's nice to have the local people cheering me on."
The way things are going those ticket requests are only going to increase. But Wilson, who won his second TOUR event earlier this year in Mexico, has other pressing concerns.
He started the week ranked 41st in the FedExCup, 11 spots away from advancing to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. A spot in the field at East Lake is particularly important for Wilson, who has only played in three majors during his entire career, since that would make him exempt for the first three of 2010.
Wilson, who was a mathematics major at UNC, could rise as high as third with a win on Sunday. He knows a top-five finish on Sunday would likely enable him to move into the top 30 and advance but he's trying hard not to dwell on the possibilties.
"I'm not going to look at it because it just would be too distracting and too much can happen on the golf course," Wilson said. "... Something tells me a win gets me way up there, and I'd rather do that, and I'll be going for that. If I fall a little short, then the consolation prize would be Atlanta and that would be good."
Wilson made five birdies on Friday and didn't drop a shot to par. A clutch 8-footer for par on his first hole settled his nerves and set the tone for the day when his putter was solid and his irons were spot-on. Of the five birdie putts, only one was over 7 feet and that came on his final hole when he rolled in a 16-footer.
"The greens have been rolling good for me," Wilson said. "I've been able to read them good and see the lines, and they've been matching up with what I see, and thankfully I made a lot of putts, and that's definitely the reason for my low score so far."
Wilson has practiced and played at Cog Hill since 2004 when the club's owner, Frank Jemsek basically welcomed him with open arms. Wilson and his soon-to-be-wife Amy were living in Chicago and he needed a place to work on his game.
When he moved to Elmhurst, the commute to Cog Hill got about 10 minutes shorter. Wilson also practices at Butler National, but this summer he's spent more time at Cog Hill to try to get used to the tweaks Rees Jones has made.
His practice rounds are usually Woods-ian at 6 a.m. before the paying guests who pony up the $150 tee off. Wilson can play in about 2 ½ hours that way. He also likes to come out in the afternoon after Lane goes down for his nap to chip and putt, then play the front nine around 4 o'clock.
Even so, Wilson estimates that he's only played about six rounds at Cog Hill since it re-opened in earlier this summer. So he's not prepared to say whether the knowledged he gained has anything to do with his position atop the leaderboard
"I guess ask me that Sunday afternoon," Wilson said. "So far, so good. But there's been a couple times that I've hit it in spots that I didn't think were bad and got up to the green and said, oh, should have played it off of that slope. So we're all learning it.
"Obviously a TOUR event, the conditions are different than I see on a day-to-day basis out here. Greens are faster, so there's a lot more roll out on the greens. But I definitely took notes the few times I did play it. Didn't really take any actual pencil notes but just mental notes, and so far it's helped a little bit."
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