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Weekley winner

Boo Weekley watches this chip for par go in on the 18th green Monday to secure the championship of the weather-delayed Verizon Heritage. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Pete Iacobelli Associated Press
Boo Weekley watches this chip for par go in on the 18th green Monday to secure the championship of the weather-delayed Verizon Heritage. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Augusta National, get ready for Boo Weekley.

Perhaps no one fits the mold of the staid, in-control PGA Tour pro less than Weekley, the 33-year-old country boy from the Florida Panhandle. He punctuates answers with “reckon” and “ain’t,” and one time, in Texas, got so angry with his play, he put a hole in his golf bag with a club.

Now, after his first PGA Tour victory at the Verizon Heritage on Monday, Weekley has a spot in next year’s Masters.

“I don’t think the plaid’s going to fit me,” said Weekley, picking at his tartan winner’s coat. “I’d like to have a green one to go along with.”

Weekley got that chance – and made up for his heartbreaking loss at the Honda Classic last month – with a pair of dramatic, par-saving chips on the 17th and 18th holes to defeat Ernie Els.

“Right now, it feels good,” he said. “It ain’t all sunk in yet.”

Along with $972,000 and a PGA Tour exemption through 2008, Weekley becomes the first PGA Tour winner to qualify for next year’s Masters after Augusta National chairman Billy Payne restored a privilege taken away in 1999.

Weekley had gained the sympathy of golfers everywhere last month when he missed a 3-footer on the 72nd hole of the Honda Classic that would’ve given him the outright win. Instead, the 33-year-old Weekley fell into a four-man playoff eventually won by Mark Wilson.

Weekley got it done this time.

He nearly squandered a three-shot lead at Harbour Town Golf Links before his heart-stopping finish.

Weekley made bogey on the 16th, then muffed a chip behind the 17th green. He followed the blunder with a 40-foot, par-saving chip to keep a one-stroke lead.

But then Weekley had his troubles on Harbour Town’s lighthouse hole, No. 18. He chipped across the green and into the fluffy rough down a short slope. Once again, Weekley’s short game saved him, this time rolling it from 36 feet away.

Weekley never thought about his Honda gaffe from last month, confident his time in the spotlight would come.

When his first chip fell, Weekley thought “this could be my day.” He knew it about 15 minutes later when he repeated the feat to close out the win.

“Unreal,” Weekley said. “This is unreal.”

The Big Easy, bidding for his first tour win since 2004, lost his chance on No. 17, driving into the hazard behind the green for a bogey. Els made things interesting, though, putting his second shot – and last opportunity to tie – at the 18th inside 2 feet.

“I don’t think I want to see this replay,” Els said, smiling.

Weekley finished with a 68 and was one in front of Els (70 ) and two ahead of Stephen Leaney (68). Masters champion Zach Johnson continued his inspired play a week after slipping on the green jacket and finished sixth.

Difficulties with the weather Sunday forced the tournament to finish Monday for the first time since 2001.

The Verizon Heritage probably has never had a champion like Weekley, whose nickname comes from Yogi Bear’s sidekick, Boo Boo. Weekley played golf for a year or so at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga., until it did away with the golf program “for bullriding or something like that.”

He didn’t mind the Sunday delay until Monday because he had stayed up too late Saturday playing cards.