On Sunday, Mark Wilson enjoyed watching his favourite NFL team, the Green Bay Packers, win the Super Bowl. On Monday, he then went out and won his second PGA TOUR event of the young season, beating Jason Dufner in a playoff at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
A year ago, Drew Brees led the New Orleans Saints to their first Super Bowl win, claiming MVP honors in the process and bringing much happiness to a city that has been rebuilding since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Just going out on a limb here, but it's likely Wilson and Brees may talk a little football during the first three days of competition at this week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am.
Wilson, the TOUR's hottest golfer, and Brees, Sports Illustrated's reigning Sportsman of the Year, are paired together in the event's pro-amateur pairings for the first three rounds. They will play in the same group as another pro-am team, Chez Reavie and actor Chris O'Donnell.
Even though this tournament offers advantages to the long hitters, Wilson -- not exactly known for his length off the tee -- will be one of the players to beat this week.
Having won the Sony Open in Hawaii in his first start of 2011, then following that with last week's win at TPC Scottsdale, he now leads the FedExCup standings by 336 points -- a hefty margin considering we're only five weeks into the TOUR schedule.
"The story this year is Mark Wilson," Paul Goydos said Tuesday. "How about our boy, Mark? 150 pounds dripping wet. All my arguments about length being all that matters, he's throwing it right out the window. I had to rethink my whole thought process."
Wilson, who was born in Wisconsin but now lives in a suburb of Chicago, said the harsh weather in the Midwest and his hot start this year has caused him to adjust his playing schedule. He's going to continue playing through the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard next month, then take a week off before making his first appearance at the Masters.
"I'm just enjoying the ride here and that's just kind of the way I'm going to look at the year," he said. "Just ride this train as long as I can."
Brees rode the train all the way to the Super Bowl last year. This past season, however, the Saints were shocked by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the playoffs -- an abrupt exit for a team looking to repeat as world champions.
Unlike Wilson, Brees said his ride is over -- and he looks forward to starting a new one.
"I'm finally feeling that the ride from the 2009 Super Bowl is now ending," he told The New York Times recently, "and now I have a chance to relax a bit. I need to recharge my batteries, both physically and mentally."
