Watney, never afraid to earn anything, gets win No. 2
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
SAN DIEGO -- Mike Watney never cut his nephew any slack.
Nick Watney wanted to play for his uncle at Fresno State since he first picked up a club as a 13-year-old growing up in Sacramento. His cousin, Josh, his surrogate older brother, was a Bulldog, too, and they would have one year together there.
When the time came, though, Nick Watney had to walk on. As close as the three were, family ties counted for nothing. What he could do with his clubs was all that mattered.
"That's one of the things that I really appreciate that (my uncle) did for me -- I had to earn everything," the younger Watney recalled. "I was never a coach's pick."
Watney took that same mindset into the final round of the Buick Invitational on Sunday. He trailed by five at the start, but led by one -- for the one and only time all week -- when he made a three-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole.
The 28-year-old earned the second victory of his PGA TOUR career by closing with a sterling 4-under 68. Watney played in the final group and made up three strokes on John Rollins over the last five holes, including the pivotal two-putt birdie at the 18th.
"I knew it wasn't over," he said. "My uncle always ... told me and our team that it was never easy. Winning a golf tournament is never easy. I knew we had some good holes to play, and I definitely didn't want to give up.
"I just tried to keep my head down and give myself chances, and I was able to make some putts."
And once the ball was safely in the cup at the 18th hole the gee-whiz kid who once told a sportswriter his favorite drink was chocolate milk celebrated with an afterthought of a fist pump that Watney later said he just hoped "looked halfway decent."
"That was not planned at all," he said. "I was more worried about the three-footer."
Turns out, Watney didn't need to be. He is not the same player who ranked 154th in putts per round and 127th in putting average last year. He and his instructor Butch Harmon spent plenty of time on the practice green last winter in Las Vegas and the work paid off.
"In actuality I'm trying to make things much more simple," said Watney, who only has one three-putt in three starts this year. "Pick a target and hit it to the target. My caddie and I have been talking that (with) every putt ... I think my confidence grows a little bit.
"And the three-footer at the last will help, as well."
So will that sweeping 39-footer that worked its way down toward the 16th hole, sputtered slightly and then fell into the cup. During last year's U.S. Open, Watney had three-putted the same hole from a similar distance to a similar pin placement on Sunday when the stakes weren't quite as high.
This one, though, pulled Watney into a tie with Rollins and he never looked back.
"It looked like it was going to run out of steam just a little bit at the hole, but it sort of wriggled back to the right as it lost speed and fell in the front door," Rollins said. "It's just inches from a possible miss, and who knows what that could have changed.
"But that was a great putt."
Mike Watney wasn't at Torrey Pines to see his nephew win for the second time. But he sent frequent text messages throughout the week to encourage the former walk-on who was the No. 1-ranked collegian in the country by the time he reached his senior year.
"I think maybe I was too stubborn to realize it's pretty tough," Watney said. "... When people would ask me what are you going to do if golf doesn't work out, I'd say, 'I'm going to try to make golf work out.'
"I think I've had a pretty steady rise, no big leaps or anything. I've just got to continue to work hard and keep improving."
Watney's head-to-head battle with Camilo Villegas and Rollins on Sunday should do wonders for confidence that was sagging after he finished 121st on the money list last year. He had been the front-runner when he won the 2007 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
"New Orleans was euphoric," Watney said. "This one, it's euphoric, but at the same time, I was almost in a trance. It was a very weird feeling. This one I'm really trying to soak it in.
"I'm still euphoric, but slightly different, slightly more gratifying because they say it's always tougher to win the second than the first."
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