There's still room on TOUR for an under-the-radar Dufner

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Jason Dufner hasn't won on TOUR yet -- but it appears to be only a matter of time.

It's probably not the greatest thing for a professional golfer when your peers call you "Duff." At least in this case it's a sign of endearment, not an indictment of his game.

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Jason Dufner has never been confused with being a household name on the PGA TOUR. He is golf's version of a scud missile, flying so far underneath the media radar that few know of him. More people, in fact, probably get him confused with fellow golfer Jason Bohn than by his own name.

That doesn't seem right when Dufner finished 11th in the 2009 FedExCup standings, ahead of such marquee players as Geoff Ogilvy, Dustin Johnson, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

How many people know Dufner was among such elite company less than two years ago? Maybe 11.

Yet there Dufner was Monday, staring down a 20-foot putt on the first playoff hole that would have won the Waste Management Phoenix Open to give him his first career TOUR victory. Dufner came up a few inches short on the putt -- and ultimately the two-hole playoff when Mark Wilson birdied the second hole to notch his second victory of the season.

The runner-up finish earned Dufner $658,800 and vaulted him 42 spots into the 69th position in the world rankings -- enough to move him into position to qualify for next week's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. But he doesn't need an Economics degree, which he has from Auburn, to understand how much greater the day could have been.

"I'm tired of coming close," said Dufner, who notched his second career second-place finish on the PGA TOUR. The first one came at the 2009 Deutsche Bank Championship, leading to his high FedExCup ranking.

Dufner didn't play like someone who was still searching for his first TOUR trophy. He didn't make a bogey on his final 51 holes at TPC Scottsdale and thrilled a scaled-down crowd at the 16th hole Monday by rolling in a 40-footer to catch Wilson atop the leaderboard.

He didn't make any mistakes in the playoff, either; he just didn't make a birdie putt. Dufner knows he didn't lose this tournament.

"I was a little bit surprised (Sunday), and even today (because) I wasn't quite as nervous or as tight as people might like to think," he said. "I was pretty comfortable. I felt like I played well and gave myself a chance to win.

"I just think that's all the maturing process. I think a lot of guys go through it. You see some guys struggle for a couple years and then they start playing great golf and they start playing to their potential. So hopefully that will continue this year and I keep knocking on that door and maybe we'll a get win sometime."

Dufner didn't make it to the PGA TOUR until he was 27 and he didn't make it back until he was 30. Now 33, he is still trying to figure out what works best for him.

Dufner admits he has done a poor job of handling weeks when bad weather turn the schedule upside down and players have to be able to adapt to starts, stoppages and restarts. But he also passed $5 million in career money Monday, so it's nice to learn while you earn.

He knows what the next step is in his career journey, but one he can't concentrate too much on or he will get tripped up elsewhere.

"I think you just keep practicing on things you need to get better at and you keep getting more experience and more in this situation of winning, and I think it happens," Dufner said. "I think if you press too hard or think about it too much, it becomes an issue. You see a lot of guys out here that are really talented, and (the) media and maybe people in their inner circle are talking about when are you going to win? That just adds to it."

Golf is a fickle game, we all know. Who would have thought Wilson would have two victories by the first week in February, doubling his career total? For that matter, who would have thought two guys whose average size is 5-foot-9, 162 pounds, would be the last ones standing in a sport where power means everything, on a course where bombers have dominated in recent years?

Monday's finish showed there's still room in golf for the smaller guys, even the ones who could do those American Express commercials.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.