Coceres wins playoff at WorldCom

By winning the WorldCom Classic, Jose Coceres becomes the first from his country to earn a PGA Tour title since '68.

By Bob Verdi
Golf World

Golf's version of global warming acquired new meaning last Monday when affable Jose Coceres, an unheralded visitor from Buenos Aires, outlasted Billy Mayfair to win the WorldCom Classic-Heritage of Golf on the fifth playoff hole. Coceres removed his cap in deference to a stiff morning breeze, sank a four-foot par putt on the famed No. 18 at Harbour Town GL, then quickly donned the symbolic tartan jacket to celebrate his arrival on the PGA Tour. Suddenly, this became Fantasy Island for the 37-year-old Argentine, one of 11 children, the product of such abject poverty that he learned the game by hitting rocks with tree branches. Coceres has toiled in Europe for a decade, and he did collect more than three-quarters of a million dollars last season, but his wish has been to secure a place in the United States--an option he's now earned through 2003.

Only moments before Coceres clinched, he missed a putt half as long for victory on the same green. Mayfair, who also bogeyed, got a reprieve, and on they moved back to No. 17--where Coceres made par with a fine up-and-down from the left bunker. On their next trip to No. 18, Coceres' approach landed in the marshy hazard, but he authored a brilliant escape while Mayfair charged his first putt, leaving a six-footer that he failed to convert. Thus ended a bizarre sudden death that commenced near dusk Sunday evening and was halted by darkness after two halved extra holes.

"I threw out my alarm clock yesterday morning, thinking we would be done yesterday afternoon," said Coceres, through an interpreter. He might want to save the films on his landmark conquest, however. His hero, Roberto De Vicenzo, was the last native of Argentina to win on the PGA Tour--at Houston in 1968, only weeks after De Vicenzo signed for an incorrect score at the Masters. This Heritage chapter had its oddities, too. Especially on Sunday. You haven't seen a backup drill like that since golf writers had to shell out for a lunch they thought was free.

When Mayfair drained a 30-footer on No. 16 Sunday for his only birdie on the back nine, he moved to 11 under par and temporarily snapped a six-way jam for the lead that included Vijay Singh, Coceres, Carl Paulson, Scott Verplank and Bernhard Langer. Only moments later, however, Coceres stiffed a wedge to the same green and notched his only birdie on the back nine. Mayfair's 15-foot putt meant a crucial save from the downhill side of the bunker behind No. 18, and he thus completed his round with a rather uneven even-par 71. Coceres posted the same score, about the same way. He reached 14 under at the fifth, then retreated to 10 under by No. 11.

"Not often you can shoot two over coming in on Sunday and still have a chance," said Mayfair, who knocked his tee ball out of bounds on the 11th, shortly after he'd snatched a two-stroke lead. The communal weakness among leaders was strange because even when a storm warning interrupted play for 65 minutes there was virtually no wind. The same course that Steve Flesch punished in 63--with 29 on the back--was there to be had. Flesch started at 10:15 a.m. Yet, not until eight hours later, when Paulson completed 72 holes in 10 under, was Flesch (or Davis Love III, or Mark Brooks, also at nine under) absolved of possible playoff obligations. Not that any of them were still even in South Carolina.

Singh, meanwhile, was somewhere between the state of dismay and disbelief. His two-shot advantage disappeared quickly Sunday afternoon, and he never found a zone or enough fairways, for that matter. Sidekick Coceres missed none (14 of 14), but Singh struck a number of wayward blows, shot 38 going out and had nary a single birdie coming home in 36.

"I was awful," said Singh. "That's the worst round I've played in a long time. I put a new driver in my bag yesterday. Maybe I shouldn't have." The infection spread to other clubs, putter and short irons included. From the middle of the short grass at No. 8, Singh yanked his approach into the drink. Weird stuff, but maybe conditions were calmer than contending stomachs.

"It has a lot to do with the golf course, I guess," said Mayfair. "They've changed some things here, made a few holes longer, but they didn't wreck it, which is nice because it's such a great layout. Tight and fair. Still, if you'd have told me 11 under would get a playoff, I wouldn't have believed it." Not when the 36-hole lead was 10 under and the 54-hole lead 13 under. The week's invitation to low scoring was extended early and accepted gladly Thursday, when three players tied at six-under 65, including Doug Dunakey--famous for the 59 he posted at the 1998 Miami Valley Open, infamous for the fact that he three-putted the 18th hole, or he would have had 58.

On Day Two, another day with only a trace of wind, Tom Lehman carded his second consecutive 66 to seize the lead after 36 holes, one better than Mayfair, Singh and Billy Andrade. Last April, Lehman was in at 12-under 272 when Stewart Cink birdied three of his last four holes to win by a shot. Lehman joined no such fray this time around, unaccountably doing the weekend in four over.

Saturday's star was Coceres, who shot 64 and pole-vaulted from a tie for 25th to a tie for second with Mayfair, two off Singh's pace. Coceres has two European Tour trophies--the 1994 Heineken Open/Catalonia and the 2000 Dubai Desert Classic. He did not return there to defend this year, evidently because he could not extract plane fare from the same sponsors who paid Tiger Woods a reported $2 million appearance fee.

Coceres, ranked No. 54 in the world at week's start (No. 26 after the playoff victory), missed the cut at the BellSouth and the Masters. He is not to be confused with Angel Cabrera, a slightly more famous countryman who opened with 66 at Augusta National and tied for 10th. The Heritage was only the fourth event on U.S. soil for Coceres since 1995; his best previous result in a PGA Tour tournament was three under par and a tie for 14th at the WGC-American Express Championship last November in Spain. Mayfair once took Woods' scalp in a playoff ('98 Nissan Open), but last week's mystery guest with the compact swing and ready smile escaped.

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