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Tuesday, April 17, 2001
Coceres wins 5-hole playoff
Argentine defeats Mayfair for WorldCom Classic championship
Associated Press
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Jose Coceres never let circumstances or opinions slow him down.
   He learned the game in the Chaco province of Argentina, hitting rocks with tree limbs his older brothers turned into clubs. As a sentry during his required military service, Coceres could see a golf course from his post, but never let on he could play.
   When the owner of the body shop he worked at forced him to choose between banging out dents and playing golf, Coceres grabbed his clubs and set out for his future.
   "I'm thanking him quite a bit that he got me out," said Coceres, who beat Billy Mayfair on Monday on the fifth hole of a playoff in the WorldCom Classic for his first PGA Tour victory.
   Coceres and Mayfair finished four rounds at 11-under 273 and played two extra holes Sunday before it got too dark. They finished with three more holes Monday morning.
   The Argentine seemingly gave away his chance by missing a 3-foot par putt on Harbour Town Golf Links' closing lighthouse hole, the first one they played Monday. Earlier, Mayfair left a 30-foot putt short, pushed the next putt past the hole and took bogey.
   Coceres, 37, then fashioned two par saves - from a bunker on the par-3 17th and a seaside marsh on the 18th - to become the first Argentine to win on tour since Roberto De Vicenzo 33 years ago.
   De Vicenzo, best remembered for signing an incorrect scorecard to lose the 1968 Masters by a stroke, won at Houston a month after his error.
   "I am not as popular" in Argentina, Coceres said. "But this is going to change quite a bit, I am sure. It has changed my life 100 percent."
   Mayfair, who beat Tiger Woods in a playoff in the 1998 Nissan Open, hit a 4-iron to the 17th that left him a straight 15-footer for birdie, but he missed. On the closing hole, Mayfair was about 25 feet away in two. But, perhaps remembering the previous one he left short, he blasted the birdie putt 6 feet by the cup and watched his par putt slide past the hole.
   "Jose actually gave me a gift there on the first playoff hole by missing that little putt," said Mayfair, who earned $378,000. "I put all the pressure on him that I could."
   Coceres, who has won more than $2.3 million during his career, broke through to win the Dubai Desert Classic in 2000.
   But some Argentineans were bothered that Coceres passed up the Argentine Open last month to prepare for the Masters and chase his dreams of the PGA Tour. Now he has a $630,000 victory and the chance for a two-year exemption, if he joins the tour within 60 days.
   "Three weeks ago I came from Argentina, they told me I was a European tour player. Some people have criticized me for coming to play over here," Coceres said. "I think that now they may not criticize me anymore."
   Coceres says he will keep his spot on the European tour, where he has played the past decade. But he also wants to increase his presence here. There will be time for all those decisions after returning home Tuesday, he said.
   The final heart-in-the-throat moment came as Coceres hit a low liner that landed left of the green in the marsh on No. 18. But he had a surprisingly good lie and swept the ball within 4 feet.
   "I think everybody who was behind me helped that ball go closer to the hole," he said.
   When his putt went in, Coceres punched the air to the crowd's cheers, then held up a sign he had hand-lettered at 5:30 a.m. on a pillowcase.
   "For my family and my friends and for all the Argentineans, a million thanks," it said in Spanish.
   Before he decides what to do next, Coceres says he has a visit to make in his homeland. He had promised that after his next tournament victory, he would walk about 23 miles to a shrine honoring the Virgin of Lujan for a prayer of thanks.
   "I have done it twice and I will do it again," he said.

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