Mark Wilson is the big cheese on the PGA Tour
It has been a good year for Mark Wilson.
He has won two PGA Tour events and as a native of Menomonee Falls, Wis., Wilson was born and raised a Green Bay Packers fan. So that’s kind of like a third tournament win.
Wilson, 36, is in the field for the Northern Trust Open, which begins Thursday at Riviera Country Club. He already has earned wins at the Sony Open in Hawaii and the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he was noticed less for his golf on that Super Bowl weekend and more for his Packers passion.
Fellow golfer Matt Kuchar sent Wilson a text message after the Phoenix win that Wilson should have mimicked putting on a championship belt just like Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Wilson’s not that kind of guy. He walks most golf courses anonymously, 5 feet 8, a bit balding, just another guy who likes to watch the comedy series “The Office” and who wishes he could have been a basketball player.
He was introduced at a news conference Tuesday as “one of the hottest golfers on the planet.” If that’s the case, then Wilson said, “This hasn’t been much of a whirlwind, to be honest.”
Slow going
Another hot golfer, Venezuelan rookie Jhonattan Vegas, who won his first tournament in his fifth PGA Tour start last month at the Bob Hope Classic and finished tied for third a week later at Torrey Pines, discovered Los Angeles traffic.
On Monday he posted on his Twitter account, “1.7, three hours.”
That would be 1.7 miles. Welcome to Sunset Boulevard and the 405.
Glamour pairings
Some of the noteworthy groupings for Thursday and Friday (tee times and starting holes) include:
Defending champion Steve Stricker; Dustin Johnson, who led here for the first two days last year; and D.A. Points, who is coming off his victory at Pebble Beach last weekend (7:32 a.m., first tee; 12:12 p.m., 10th tee).
Phil Mickelson, two-time winner here, and a pair of Brits, Luke Donald, who finished second to Stricker last year; and Paul Casey (12:12 p.m., 10th tee; 7:32 a.m., first tee).
Fred Couples, who won here in 1990 and 1992; Bubba Watson, winner of his second Tour event at Torrey Pines two weeks ago; and Anthony Kim, a Los Angeles native (12:01 p.m., 10th tee; 7:21 a.m., first tee).
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