He can enjoy this win in a custom-build hammock
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Will MacKenzie was a golfing prodigy as a child in North Carolina. Then he quit playing after high school and spent five years living out of his van in Montana, snowboarding, kayaking and climbing rocks. He once tried to sell hammocks to make a living.
A glimpse on television of his boyhood idol, Payne Stewart, winning the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst was all that was needed to rekindle his love for the game.
It was a turning point for MacKenzie, one that was justified Sunday when he won the Reno-Tahoe Open for his first PGA Tour victory.
The 31-year-old free spirit in his second year on tour made a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole to shoot a 1-under 71 and finish at 20-under 268 for a one-stroke victory over Bob Estes.
MacKenzie, who earned $540,000 for the victory, entered the week ranked 179th on the money list with $197,158. His previous best showing was a tie for eighth last year at the Michelin Classic at Las Vegas.
He admitted that five or six years ago he never would have dreamed of winning on tour after having "burned out" on golf at age 14. He passed on some college golf scholarships and packed his bags for Montana.
"All the local pros hate me," he said about his hometown of Greenville. "I was sort of the prodigy kid in eastern North Carolina and then I left."
After the stint in Montana, he went to Costa Rica.
"I surfed for three months and I met some dude who made a fortune off of selling hammocks and I was like, all right, I'm in," Mackenzie said.
He returned to North Carolina and imported hammocks from the Yucatan in Mexico.
"I went door to door selling them, but it didn't work," MacKenzie said. "I was in debt huge.
"That's when I saw Payne win the U.S. Open in my home state. I told my dad I was thinking about going to hit some balls and he said, `Go hit some, bud.' And I fell in love with it again."
He kept at it 12 hours a day and picked up a victory on the Nationwide Tour last year. He also played at Reno last year, but missed the cut partly because he was enamored with the local casinos.
"I was gambling and losing and had a few drinks," MacKenzie said. "This year, I came here to win."
Read more about the Mackenzie comeback:
"I was sort of like, `Wow, it went in,'" MacKenzie said of his tournament-winning birdie putt. "I thought I could make it, but I hadn't made any all day."
MacKenzie led by three strokes with five holes to go and was ahead by one before he bogeyed the par-5 17th. Estes could have taken the lead there, but missed a 20-foot birdie attempt and missed another on the 18th from about 16 feet.
"I figured if I was there at the end, I'd win the golf tournament. But my game wasn't really just sharp enough," said Estes, who shot an even-par 72 in the final round.
MacKenzie, who started the day tied with Estes at 19 under, said he slept only about three hours Saturday night, tossing and turning in bed from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.
"I wasn't worried. I was just thinking of all these different scenarios," he said. "I knew it was going to come down to the wire. I haven't become Tiger Woods yet where I can just blow them away."
Joe Ogilvie was third after tying the course record Sunday with a 10-under 62, including 11 birdies _ eight of them on the back nine for a tourney-record 28 at the 7,472-yard Montreux Golf and Country Club course.
MacKenzie had two birdies and a bogey on the front nine and was 20 under through 13 holes, three ahead before Estes followed with back-to-back birdies to get to 19 under.
Still leading by one, MacKenzie drove the ball 307 yards left into the rough behind some towering ponderosa pines on the 636-yard, par-5 17th. His third shot went 10 yards over the green into the rough. His chip rolled 33 feet down hill past the hole and he two-putted from there for a bogey.
Estes missed his birdie attempt from 20 feet but still managed to grab a share of the lead by making par before MacKenzie won it on No. 18.
Daniel Chopra shot a 69 to finish in fourth at 17-under 271.
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