Unfamiliar names, but impressive efforts at Transitions

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Webb Simpson bogeyed the 72nd hole to fall one shot short on Sunday at the Copperhead Course.

No doubt some golf fans were squinting their eyes to recognize the leaders on the closing few holes of the Transitions Championship.

TRANSITIONS

Woodland beats Simpson
Results, FedExCup points
Final leaderboard
Updated FedExCup standings

The names "Woodland," "Simpson" and "Stallings" certainly don't carry the name recognition as "Woods," "Mickelson" and "Els," but their stories are just as unique and their performances just as impressive.

After all, these three players know how much a victory changes your life on the PGA TOUR, especially when it's your first one.

Gary Woodland got to experience that euphoria, making a clutch 11-foot par putt on the 72nd hole to enable the former college basketball guard to win by a shot over Webb Simpson, with Scott Stallings two more shots back in solo third.

All three are Americans. All are in their mid-20s. And all had a week that could change the course of their careers.

Woodland's will change the most immediately. He earned almost $1 million ($990,000), but just as importantly, gained full-exempt status through the 2013 season to give him more time to fine-tune a game he only got serious about as a freshman in college, when he was a guard on the Washburn University team. Woodland quit playing basketball and transferred to Kansas to join the golf team.

Simpson is in his third PGA TOUR season, having kept his card twice by finishing among the top 100 in the FedExCup standings. He's almost assured another season on the PGA TOUR after pocketing a career-best $594,000 payday that moves him into 19th in the FedExCup standings.

But Simpson has been around long enough to know how important it would have been to match Woodland's par save at the last hole. That's because victory carries so much weight on the PGA TOUR.

Monday Backspin

Gary Woodland needed to slow down a little to speed up his game. Once he learned to leave the driver in the bag, his career took off. Backspin | Congratulate Woodland

"Just one shot short is tough because you're here four days and you work so hard to get in this position," Simpson said. "This opportunity doesn't come that often, so I'm a little disappointed."

Stallings had no such perspective issues. Entering last week, he had earned a grand total of $11,261 on the PGA TOUR, thanks to making his first cut (T42) in Puerto Rico last week. Stallings wouldn't have even been in the field had he not been friends with fellow pro Kenny Perry.

Perry, who endorses Transitions' eyewear products, convinced tournament officials to give Stallings a sponsor exemption into the event. Stallings made Perry's move look good as he led the tournament until a double bogey on the 70th hole, settling for solo third and a hefty check for $374,000. Stallings, who was a two-time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year at Tennessee Tech, had no regrets.

"I really hit a good shot on 16," he said. "It started where I wanted it to end, and that's kind of the thing that's (bad) about going first. You don't really know what the wind was.

"But I hung in there. For my first time being in that whole situation, I was proud of the way I hung in there. A sponsor exemption changed my year, and I can't thank Transitions enough. Without them giving me the opportunity to play, there's no way I would have been here. One good tournament completely changed my year."

Stallings

Stallings had plenty of reasons to take the near-miss better than Simpson. Just a month ago, Stallings was playing in the Nationwide Tour event in Colombia after missing the cut in his first five starts on the PGA TOUR this year. Now the third gets him into next week's Shell Houston Open and the big check will move him near the top of the next non-exempt reshuffle (full list here) and get him into more tournaments.

"This is something that you dream about," he said. "And to go out there and have an opportunity to win, first time to be in this situation, it was pretty cool."

Stallings, who finished 53rd as a rookie on the Nationwide Tour last year and earned his card by finishing T11 at q-school, said he didn't bother to ask Perry for advice when he moved into contention during the weekend. Perry had already done enough to help his buddy by getting him a spot.

"He kind of said what he needed to say earlier in the week, and I'm sure if I asked him any questions, he'd be like, 'Quit wasting my time and go out there and hit some shots,'" Stallings said. "But I can't thank him enough, can't thank Transitions enough and the PGA TOUR."

The sports' marquee names will likely return to the top of the leaderboard at this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. But for a week, it was unique to watch the younger players contend with so much on the line, knowing that at least one of them -- or perhaps all three -- had to feel a little like lottery winners leaving Innisbrook.

"I'm sure looking back, I'll learn a lot from it," Simpson said, "and hopefully have many opportunities to win again."

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