Mark Wilson is a 32 year-old journeyman PGA Tour player who won last weekend’s Honda Classic. The victory was the first in 111 starts for Wilson, who has been to the pressure-packed PGA Tour qualifying tournament an excruciating eleven times in attempting to obtain or maintain his playing privileges on the PGA Tour. However, this Randall Mell column explains why Wilson’s victory was particularly noteworthy:

Gather the children around.
They should know about Mark Wilson, because he did more than win the Honda Classic in Monday’s playoff at PGA National. In the Machiavellian world of sports, where the ends increasingly justify the means, where it seems as if winning is all that matters, he broke ranks spectacularly.
That was the real story here.
In a time when we routinely worship achievement at the expense of character and integrity, he reminded us why golf’s so admirably different.
He showed a commitment to doing the right thing no matter what the cost.
And a commitment to being relentlessly honest even though it made winning so much harder.
Wilson claimed his first PGA Tour victory despite calling a two-shot penalty on himself Friday, when even in golf, where respect for the rules is so integral to the game, other players might have overlooked this type of violation. It fell in such a gray area that even the rules official Wilson consulted in the second round paused uncertainly.
“If I were sitting here, and had not called it on myself, every time I looked at that trophy, it would be tarnished,” Wilson said after defeating Jose Coceres, Boo Weekley and Camilo Villegas in the four-way playoff.
Wilson, 32, penalized himself two shots in Friday’s second round after his caddie gave advice on club selection to a fellow competitor at the fifth tee.
News of the self-imposed penalty didn’t leak out until the Golf Channel reported it Saturday night, after the third round. Wilson would have shot 64 on Friday, the low round of the tournament, and he would have been one shot behind the leaders instead of three back. But while other players would have been quick to blame a caddie ó it happens all the time ó Wilson kept it to himself. He never raised the issue until pressed by media. [. . .]
At the fifth hole Friday, Wilson hit his tee shot with an 18-degree hybrid. Villegas was up next at the 217-yard par three. Villegas asked his caddie, Matty Bednarski, what club he thought Wilson had hit. Bednarski said he thought it was a two- or three-iron hybrid.
“Oh, it’s an 18-degree [hybrid],” Wilson’s caddie, Chris Jones, told them.
That response violated Rule 8-1 of the Rules of Golf, which prohibits a player or his caddie from giving advice to anyone but each other, or a partner in match play. It’s such a gray area because the rules actually permit competing players or caddies to go up and look in a fellow competitor’s bag to see what club is being used.
“I played out that hole and immediately called an official over to see what he thought,” said Wilson, who grew up in suburban Milwaukee and lives in suburban Chicago. “He wasn’t sure at first if that was necessarily advice, but within 60 seconds, he made the decision.
“It’s an important rule to me. The Rules of Golf are there to be fair to everyone. It’s a tough rule. There’s a lot of camaraderie among caddies and players.”
Jones, 30, who has been Wilson’s caddie since last season, said he was shaken when Wilson pointed out the violation.
“I heard Camilo and his caddie talking, and I just blurted it out,” Jones said. “I was getting too comfortable and too friendly.”
Wilson immediately confronted Jones.
“I felt so low and sick to my stomach,” Jones said.
Two holes later, Wilson could see Jones was suffering, so he put his arm around him to make sure Jones knew he was forgiven.
“After the round, I broke down and couldn’t hold it in,” Jones said. “If we would have lost this tournament, it would have really killed me. I felt so bad about what I had done to him, our team, his wife and family.”

Read the entire article. Wilson won $990,000 for his victory and will have the opportunity to play in The Masters in early April if he can remain among the top 10 money-winners this season until then. More importantly, the win gained him fully exempt status on the PGA Tour through 2009, so he gets a well-deserved reprieve from going back to the PGA Tour qualifying tournament for almost three years. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.