One year after win, Weekley's mother says he hasn't changed

text size

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Until a year ago, Boo Weekley was a household name in, well, only his own house.

Boo Weekley (Getty Images)

Multimedia

Video: Boo demonstrates his back-to-back chip-ins at Harbour Town in 2007
Video: Boo set to defend title

Even from a young age, though, his mom Patsy knew her oldest child was something special.

When Weekley was seven or eight years old, he'd occasionally come home from school extremely hungry. What happened to your lunch money, she'd ask? Did you lose it?

"And he'd say, 'Well, so-and-so didn't have any money for lunch so I let him have mine,'" Patsy recalls. "This was when he was in elementary school. He is the same person now that he is 34 years old that he was when he was seven or eight."

Except now Boo is a household name in galleries from Boston to Boise. He's even popular enough to be on the "no-last-name needed" list for the PGA TOUR: Tiger, Phil, Vijay, Arnold, Jack, Boo.

Yet fame hasn't altered the lovable boy from the Florida Panhandle one bit.

"He would probably tell you he is not famous. He doesn't feel like he is," his mom said. "He said from the beginning that there's no reason to change personality wise.

"As he told me one day: He said, "Why should I change? I am no better than anyone else just because I won a tournament.' He's always been one of those don't make a fuss over me, "don't make no big deal" guys."

Need an example of Boo being the same ol' Boo that he was prior to his victory one year ago? The defending champion at the Verizon Heritage played in the Wednesday pro-am with his mother.

When she teed up her pink golf ball and hit a tree, he wasn't embarrassed. Nope, he teased her by yelling, "Fore!" then encouraged her with a few "that's alrights". She had a tough putt on the second green, so Boo got down and read the break then tried to explain exactly where to aim it.

Patsy was the one who suggested the mother-son pairing, wanting to take part in this special week with her son. Weekley's parents were not in the crowd when he won last year. She figured it would be neat to return with her son to the venue where he captured his first TOUR title.

She spent time with him prior to their pro-am date on the island and saw first-hand how fans have taken to her personable son.

"Everywhere we go someone is telling him congratulations and saying what a nice champion he has been. As a parent, it makes you feel proud," Patsy said. "A lot of people recognize him, a lot of people have come up to him and told him what a great round he had last year."

Weekley emerged just last season as a name and talent to be reckoned with on TOUR. He had a chance to grab his first win at The Honda Classic but fell short in a four-man playoff to Mark Wilson. After that finish, the Nationwide Tour alum tiptoed into the spotlight and set the stage for the Verizon Heritage just five weeks later.

As far as stats go, Weekley hardly hit the green in regulation at the 2007 Verizon Heritage. In fact, he missed it 44.44 percent of the time and had to scramble often to save par or better. Lucky for him, he successfully got up-and-down 26 of 32 times and ranked first in overall putting for the week.

Weekley's win at the Verizon Heritage helped usher him into the top events on the PGA TOUR, including trips to THE PLAYERS and the World Golf Championships. (Getty Images)

It also didn't hurt that his chip shots dropped into the hole more easily than "y'all" drops from this down-home Southerner's lips. The wind blew at 40 miles per hour in the final round, and sand swirled in the bunkers. But, on 71st and 72nd holes, Weekley outplayed the wind and frontrunner Ernie Els by chipping in twice to save par.

Even a year later, Weekley still isn't sure how it all happened.

"I played the back nine [on Tuesday], just nine holes, and we got around there to 16, 17 and 18, and of course I went around there and had to try them chip shots," Weekley said. "There wasn't no way. I still don't see how that went in. But it was very memorable."

Those chip-ins and the win propelled him into the limelight and a spot near the top of the FedExCup standings. He also earned a place in the 2008 Masters, where last week he took his first trip as a participant to Augusta National Golf Club and tied for 20th.

Not bad for a kid from Milton, Fla., who picked up golf when he was about 13 years old. A talented baseball player, one day Weekley went with one of his friends to the local naval base. His friend's father managed the golf course at NAS Whiting Field and let the boys play a few holes.

"Boo had never really played before but the high school golf coach happened to be playing behind him. I guess he recognized some type of talent and approached him to ask who he was. As it turns out, the coach was one of my husband's hunting friends from a few years back," Patsy recalled.

The coach and Weekley's dad reunited on the phone and decided that Boo should work on his golf game.

Now, over two decades later, Weekley is 33rd in the FedExCup point's standings. And he's an inspiration to other down-to-earth kids who didn't grow up with everything handed to them.

Take Tommy Gainey. The South Carolinian once supported himself by working in a factory, all the while chasing his PGA TOUR dream. Gainey made it through Q-School in 2007.

"When he first came on to the scene, I bet there was nobody in this world that didn't say, well, who is this guy? I mean he's from the country. He's had it rough," Gainey said. "He grew up hard. He was in a factory, working his tail off, trying to get out here. And look, he's out here, he's won on the PGA TOUR. So now he's set. He has nothing else to prove.

"He was on the same path I was, he grew up kind of hard. He didn't have anything given to him. He's worked for everything he has. And you've got to respect that. So that just tells you what kind of person he is. He's worked for everything he has, and you've got to respect him for that."