MARANA, Ariz. -- He prefers a ball cap over a big Stetson and golf spikes over cowboy boots, but Boo Weekley feels right at home, all things considered.
Out here in the Sonoran Desert, surrounded by cactus, coyotes and bandits looking to swipe his money, the guy who has plugged more critters than anybody on the PGA Tour is lighting up what was once part of the Wild West.
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| Boo Weekley, who beats Sergio Garica 3 and 1, is rapidly becoming one of the world's top players. (Getty Images) |
He mounted the noggin of Sergio Garcia on his wall in the second round of the Accenture Match Play Championship, storming back from an early deficit with birdies on six of his last 10 holes to win 3 and 1 at the Gallery at Dove Mountain.
Still country to the core, the pride of the rural Florida Panhandle showed up this week having not played in a match-play event as an amateur 12 years ago, which was somewhat embarrassingly reinforced on the first hole of his opening match on Tuesday.
Germany's Martin Kaymer lagged the ball to within a few inches of the hole, and Weekly didn't concede the putt. Several awkward moments passed.
"It wasn't probably eight or nine inches from the hole, and I'm sitting there and I'm putting my ball down, and he's looking at me and I'm looking at him, like, 'Are you going to tap it in?'" Weekley recalled with a laugh.
Weekley's caddie finally told Kaymer to pick it up.
"I'm like, 'Pick it up?' Honestly, I didn't know," Weekley said. "So that's how that started out."
Thus, Weekley's astounding transformation continues to pick up steam, seemingly with no limits. A virtual unknown after gaining a promotion to the big leagues off the Nationwide Tour, he was ranked No. 196 in the world at this precise point last season. A year ago next week, Weekley nearly won the Honda Classic and was off and running, his ever-present tin of chewing tobacco in tow. He's now 44th in the world and holding steady, with his first berth in the Masters already cemented.
He won at Hilton Head by holding off charging Ernie Els, won over the Scottish fans at the British Open and was in the mix at the PGA Championship. Then he represented the United States in the World Cup event in China, where he and Heath Slocum finished second to Colin Montgomerie's team from Scotland.
Monty can't even say Weekley's nickname without breaking out in a smile, but he darned sure respects his game.
"I expect him to be on the Ryder Cup team," Monty said Thursday after his second-round win. "He's very, very good. I was very impressed with him."
