Worldcom Classic - The Heritage of GolfCoceres takes WorldCom title after wild ride in playoff 04/16/01[an error occurred while processing this directive] <BR><FONT SIZE=5>  Coceres takes WorldCom title after wild ride in playoff  </FONT><p> <P><font size=2><I>Web posted  <FONT SIZE=2>Monday, April 16, 2001</FONT><BR>  <P></I></font><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT> <P><FONT SIZE=2><B>  By <A HREF=mailto:astastny@savannahnow.com?subject=Tim Guidera>Timothy Guidera</a>  </B><BR>  <I><A HREF="http://www.savannahnow.com">Savannah Morning News</a></I>  <P></FONT> <FONT SIZE =3>  HILTON HEAD ISLAND Standing on the back of the 18th green at the Harbour Town Golf Links in the Monday morning sun, the new WorldCom Classic champion had a neatly pressed tartan jacket on his back, a shiny trophy in his hands and pluff mud all over his shoes.<P> Jose Coceres made two brilliant par saves Monday, the first from a bunker to extend a sudden-death playoff and the next from the marsh to win it when Billy Mayfair three-putted from 25 feet on Harbour Town's 18th hole. <P> The 37-year-old former caddie from Argentina had put himself in difficult positions on each of the three holes that were required when play was suspended because of darkness Sunday night, right up to the point when he put himself in the champion's blazer.<P> "This has changed my life 100 percent," Coceres said through an interpreter after taking the tournament's $630,000 winner's check and earning exempt status on the PGA Tour through the end of the 2003 season. "I played from the hazard and I am happy the crocodile wasn't around there because I have seen it around this place. There are many crocodiles here."<P> <TABLE WIDTH=160 BORDER=0 ALIGN=Left VSPACE=5 HSPACE=5 CELLPADDING=5> <TR><TD VALIGN=BOTTOM ALIGN=MIDDLE><A HREF="/images/041601/cocereswin.jpg"> <MCC PHOTO1> <IMG alt="photo: Worldcom Classic" SRC="/images/041601/cocereswinLR.jpg" WIDTH=160 HEIGHT=200 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=6 align=left BORDER=0> </MCC PHOTO> </a><br></TD></TR> <TR><TD CELLPADDING=3 VALIGN=TOP ALIGN=LEFT><center><hr width=60% noshade></center> <font size=2> <MCC CAPTION> Argentina native Jose Coceres pumps his fist after winning the WorldCom Classic on the fifth playoff hole. </MCC CAPTION> <center><font size=1><I><MCC CREDIT></MCC CREDIT></I></font><center><hr width=60% noshade></center></TD></TR></TABLE> Throughout the playoff, Coceres created enough danger for himself without having to worry about intruding creatures.<P> He missed a three-foot putt to win the tournament on No. 18 the first time around, the fourth instance since No. 6 Sunday afternoon that he had blown a short putt. And he hit a 4-iron on the par-3 17th into the bunker left of the green, just feet from the water hazard.<P> Then, with Mayfair's tee shot sitting 20 feet behind the hole, Coceres barely got his sand-wedge shot to the crest of the bank beside the green. He rammed in a 12-foot putt from the fringe and survived to play another hole when Mayfair's birdie attempt ran past the cup.<P> "I was preparing for him to make it," said Mayfair, who fell to 2-for-9 in Tour playoffs and settled for a $378,000 runner-up's share of this week's Heritage's record $3.5 million purse. "I was preparing for him to hole that bunker shot and have to make the putt. I don't think it slowed my momentum down because you always prepare for the person to make it."<P> Neither player could have prepared for the way their fortunes would oscillate on the trip back down Harbour Town's famous 18th.<P> With their golf balls roughly 10 feet apart in the fairway, Mayfair played first and put his approach on the back of the green to the right of the flag. Coceres followed with a pulled 4-iron into the marsh, which during last winter's restoration was allowed to flow all the way up to the lefthand side of the hole. That eliminated a bail-out area that had evolved there and it left Coceres without much room for error.<P> "I didn't see his lie," Mayfair said, "but he was at least in the water there a little bit. To get up and down from there is just incredible."<P> And for Coceres to get where his Heritage win takes him is an equally impressive elevation.<P> He was playing just his fourth career event in America this week and has participated in only 10 tournaments on the PGA Tour during his 15-year professional career. A member of the European PGA Tour for the last 11 years, he has earned more than $2.3 million, a fine sum for someone who slept five-to-a-bed as a child and learned to play the game by carving clubs out of tree branches and using rocks for golf balls.<P> His rise through the 2001 Heritage field was slightly less dramatic.<P> After making his first cut in America with rounds of 68 and 70, Coceres said he felt he could play more aggressively on the weekend, and fired a 7-under-par 64 Saturday. That left him two shots out of the lead and comfortable about the finish.<P> "Even if I finish in second place, it is very good," he said Sunday.<P> He reached a playoff because he and Mayfair were the leaders who slipped the least in the final round when Singh shot 74, Tom Lehman shot 76 and only one of the top eight players on the scoreboard entering the day broke par.<P> Play was called around 8 p.m. Sunday after the players matched pars on two extra holes, setting up the biggest three holes of Coceres' career Monday.<P> "I said, now that you are in it, just go for it and relax," said Coceres, whose 11-under-par winning total is the second highest at the Heritage since 1986. "It was always my thought that I was going to win this tournament, but not with such a high difficulty."<P> "He has obviously won on the biggest Tour there is. It's great for him," added Mayfair. "He has got to be very proud. His country has got to be very proud of him. I would have loved to win, but I just give him all the congratulations in the world."<P> The first win by an Argentine on the PGA Tour in 33 years could do as much for popularity back home as it does for his playing status.<P> He said some fans were critical of him because he opted to skip the Argentina Open this year so he could come to the U.S. a week early to play the BellSouth Classic in preparation for the Masters and the Heritage.<P> "I think that now they may not criticize me anymore," said Coceres, who is undecided about the future, but indicated he will participate in events on both the European and American Tours during the next two years. "I demonstrated that I can play. I can come here and play well here or anywhere in the world."<P> And, as he showed in winning the Heritage on Monday, play from anywhere on the course, too.<P> Morning News columnist Tim Guidera can be reached at 652-0352.<P>  </FONT>[an error occurred while processing this directive]