Double winner Wilson enjoying ride

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  • February 8, 2011

Mark Wilson is now 51st in the world after his second PGA Tour victory of the season on Monday – and he’s delighted

Mark Wilson, a 36-year-old American who has played only three majors in his life and missed the cut in all of them, is suddenly a different golfer this season.
Wilson made it two wins in three starts on Monday by capturing the frost-delayed Waste Management Phoenix Open in a play-off with Jason Dufner.
He is now 51st in the world less than a month after sitting at 237th on the ranking list and is delighted, saying: “I’m just enjoying the ride here and that’s kind of the way I’m going to look at the year – just ride this train as long as I can.”
Wilson credits a better mental attitude for his transformation.
After saving par from a fairway bunker on the last and then winning with an eight-foot birdie putt at the second extra hole he commented: “The old Mark would have been pretty upset with the tee shot on 18 in regulation, but the new one was just focused.”
Wilson had double cause for celebration as a Green Bay Packers fan.
“I didn’t sleep great,” he said. “It was probably the excitement with the Super Bowl and the uncertainty of today and I just kept trying to rely on God to give me the peace that I needed to get through it. I prayed out there a lot.”
Scotland’s Martin Laird shared third place with Vijay Singh, a superb effort given that he had to birdie the last two holes of his second round just to make the cut.
“To shoot 13 under on the weekend obviously I’m very happy,” he said. “I’ve always kind of struggled to start the year. If you look at my results I’ve never really done anything before June or July.”
Phil Mickelson remains just behind Tiger Woods in the world rankings after managing only 29th place.
The tournament had to be completed on Monday because of frost delays at the start.
Thomas Bjorn’s four-stroke win at the Qatar Masters on Sunday, meanwhile takes him from 134th to 60th in the World Rankings.
The top 60 after this weekend qualify for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson later this month.

Latest leading positions

1 Lee Westwood 8.41pts
2 Martin Kaymer 7.89
3 Tiger Woods 6.77
4 Phil Mickelson 6.39
5 Graeme McDowell 6.39
6 Paul Casey 6.12
7 Rory McIlroy 5.84
8 Steve Stricker 5.78
9 Luke Donald 5.44
10 Jim Furyk 5.41
11 Ernie Els 5.14
12 Ian Poulter 4.90
13 Matt Kuchar 4.78
14 Dustin Johnson 4.64
15 Robert Karlsson 4.48
16 Retief Goosen 4.48
17 Francesco Molinari 4.35
18 Bubba Watson 4.13
19 Louis Oosthuizen 3.90
20 Edoardo Molinari 3.79

Others

23 Miguel Angel Jimenez
31 Justin Rose
33 Padraig Harrington
35 Peter Hanson
36 Alvaro Quiros
37 Ross Fisher
41 Martin Laird
57 Matteo Manassero
60 Thomas Bjorn
62 Henrik Stenson
70 Anders Hansen
71 Simon Dyson
74 Stephen Gallacher
78 Rhys Davies
79 Sergio Garcia
80 Brian Davis
82 Fredrik Andersson Hed
83 Danny Willett
92 Oliver Wilson
93 Carl Pettersson
95 Soren Kjeldsen
96 Chris Wood
99 Darren Clarke
100 David Horsey

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