Wilson wins wind-delayed Humana Challenge

Mark Wilson sank a 10-foot birdie putt at the last in the fading light to secure a two-shot win in the Humana Challenge.

His final round became before the sun was up on Sunday and ended almost in darkness as the players tried to make up for the third-round delay caused by stormy winds.

His birdie at the last put him two ahead of Robert Garrigus, John Mallinger and Johnson Wagner, who all put in decent challenges for the title.

Moments before Garrigus had only just missed an eagle putt that would have put him ahead of Wilson, but missed the return putt for birdie as well.

"Robert and I, going back and forth, we really enjoyed that," Wilson said. "It just came down to 18, and I didn't want to give him a chance to make that putt to tie me. That's what we play for. You want somebody to win it, not necessarily to lose it."

Wilson led by three shots Sunday morning after finishing the final three holes of his third round at La Quinta Country Club, which got the most damage from Saturday's ferocious wind. After a quick trip back to his in-laws' to drop off his kids at day care, he quickly lost the lead on the low-scoring Palmer Private course, but played bogey-free over the final 15 holes to win the Humana Challenge.

The amount of golf that needed to be played meant it was fairly dark when the final pairing came off the course.

"We really couldn't see much," said Garrigus. "I could barely pick up the flag on 18. We had a great day, and it got pretty dark. I wish I could have read that putt a little better."

Wilson closed with a 3-under 69 to finish at 24 under to take the $1 008 000 winner's share of the $5.6 million purse.

South African performance

Zimbabwean Brendon de Jonge finished just outside of the top 10 on 18 under, while South African Rory Sabbatini was another shot back in a tie for 14th.Unfortunately Trevor Immelman missed the cut.