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Coceres wins playoff at 5th extra hole

Jose Coceres parred the fifth extra hole to win the U.S. PGA Tour's $3.5 million WorldCom Classic on Monday.

Coceres, who sank a four-foot par putt to beat Billy Mayfair in a playoff at Harbour Town, became only the second player from Argentina to win on the PGA Tour.

A member of the European Tour, 37-year-old Coceres won in just his 10th tournament on the U.S. PGA Tour.

He receives $630,000 and earns an exemption until the end of 2003.

Before Monday, Roberto De Vicenzo was the only Argentine to win on tour. He triumphed nine times.

Mayfair and Argentina's Coceres shot final rounds of 71 to finish tied at 11-under-par 273 on Sunday.

They both parred the first two extra holes before the playoff was suspended for the day due to darkness.

Resuming at the par four 18th on Monday, Coceres had a golden chance to win, but he missed a putt for par from inside three feet.

They both bogeyed the hole, then returned to the par four 17th, where Mayfair hit a tee shot to 15 feet, while Coceres found a greenside bunker.

Coceres hit a mediocre second shot, but then sank a 12-footer to save par. Mayfair missed his birdie attempt, so it was back to the 18th, for the third time in the playoff.

Mayfair made bogey, and Coceres then sank his four-footer to win.

Mayfair & Coceres to finish playoff Monday

Billy Mayfair and Jose Coceres will have to wait until Monday to complete their sudden-death playoff at the Worldcom Classic, as darkness suspended play Sunday evening at the Harbour Town Golf Links. Mayfair and Coceres played two holes of the playoff before it was halted. They will continue Monday morning at 8 a.m. (et).

Play was halted at 4:45 p.m. (et) for lightning in the area and resumed about an hour later, adding to the late finish.

The duo finished tied at 11-under 273 -- one shot ahead of Carl Paulson, Bernhard Langer, Scott Verplank and overnight leader Vijay Singh.

Mayfair (71) and Coceres (71) started the playoff on 18 and both players landed their balls in the fairway, with Coceres having the honor. He hit an eight-iron from 181 yards and dropped it in front of the flag, but the ball rolled through the green to the back fringe some 20 feet away. Mayfair hit the same club from 172 yards and landed his ball right of the green in a chipping area.

Mayfair, who last won in the 1998 Buick Open, played his third shot right of the hole, stopping the ball two feet from the cup, where he tapped in for par. Coceres elected to putt and the ball looked close to falling into the cup but fell an inch short.

At the par-three 17th, Mayfair used a six-iron and played the ball almost 55 feet short of the hole. Coceres hit the same club and left himself 15 feet for birdie.

Mayfair hit a solid putt that lagged about a foot short and he tapped in for par. Coceres never grazed the hole with his birdie effort that could have won the tournament, but converted the two- footer for par that kept the playoff going.

It was then that officials approached the players and it was decided to postpone the rest of the sudden-death playoff until the morning.

"Jose and I both agreed on the 17th tee that we were going to play one more hole and that was it," said Mayfair. "We tied and we've got to come back tomorrow.

"When you can't see, you can't see. It's pretty important what we're doing out there. I think by the time we would have gotten to the 18th green, it really would have been hard to see."

Throughout the back nine on Sunday there were several players that hovered around the top. At one point, six golfers were tied for the lead at 10-under par.

Mayfair was the first to get to minus-11 and he did it at the 16th hole. He drove the ball into the fairway but did not hit his second shot well, landing the ball some 30 feet short of the cup. Mayfair drained the birdie putt to take a brief lead.

Coceres was in the fairway behind Mayfair but was 20 yards closer than Mayfair was. He hit a pitching-wedge three feet short of the hole, but the shot looked like it might have fallen in the cup had it not been for the spin the ball had. Coceres made the birdie to match Mayfair at the top.

With Paulson and Langer in at 10-under, Mayfair was 25 feet away from the hole at 17 and rolled his birdie putt a foot short. He tapped in and collected par. In the next group, Coceres knocked his six-iron approach 30 feet right of the target and narrowly missed his birdie putt left.

Mayfair ran into some trouble at 18. He hit his driver down the right side of the fairway and then from 198 yards out he laced a six- iron onto the green but the ball took a huge bounce and landed in the back edge of the bunker behind the green.

He blasted his bunker shot 15 feet past the hole and left but stroked home the long par save to get in the clubhouse at 11-under.

"About a foot from the hole, I knew it was in."

Coceres stood 199 yards from the stick and hit a seven-iron right, in almost the exact spot where Mayfair played from a half hour later. He played his third shot three feet short of the hole, but ran home the par save to force the playoff.

"I'm very happy," said Coceres, who has been vague when answering questions this week about joining the PGA Tour full time. "After this week, I know that I can work hard and stay on this tour where there are quality players and I can maintain myself with them."

Mayfair had a two-shot lead but double-bogeyed the 11th after he hit out of bounds. He parred the next two before officials suspended play. Mayfair came out at 14 and missed the green left. He putted his next shot from a chipping area to about 20 feet but missed the par putt to drop to 10-under.

Coceres opened with two birdies but missed a very short par putt at six. He then failed to convert a three-footer for birdie at the next and dropped down the board with three bogeys in his next four holes.

"I think I started to lose confidence with that three-putt on No. 6," Coceres said through an interpreter. "Thank God I could come back."

Paulson posted a two-under 69 on Sunday and missed being at 11- under when his birdie putt at 17 missed the cup by an inch.

Langer was at 10-under as he went to 17, but dropped his tee shot in a deep, greenside bunker where he took two to get out. He bogeyed the hole but hit a beautiful approach to eight feet at the last for birdie.

The German, who was just elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, became only the sixth player in tournament history to shoot all four rounds in the 60s when he finished with a two-under 69 on Sunday.

Verplank drained a 30-foot birdie putt on 17 to get to minus-10 but missed a 20-foot chip on the last to get into a possible playoff.

Singh struggled to three-over 74 on Sunday. He made eight pars and a bogey on the back but had an eight-footer to get into the playoff at the last. Singh blew the ball past the hole but will post his fifth top-five this season.

Steve Flesch fired the lowest round of the day when he made it around Harbour Town in 63. He birdied five of his last six to finish the tournament nine-under par and share seventh with Mark Brooks and Davis Love III, a four-time winner of this event.

Last year's champion, Stewart Cink, and Billy Andrade rounded out the top-10 at minus-eight.

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