By JUSTIN JARRETT
jjarrett@islandpacket.com
jjarrett@beaufortgazette.com
One by one, familiar faces started to stand out in the sea of fans as Brian Gay made his way around Harbour Town Golf Links during Sunday's final round of the Verizon Heritage. A cousin here, an uncle there.
As far as Gay knew, when he walked off the first tee box a little before 2 p.m., only a handful of friends and family members were at Harbour Town to see if he could hold onto the three-shot lead he started the day with. But by the time he picked the ball out of the hole at Harbour Town's signature 18th hole -- tournament records for total score and margin of victory to his credit -- he might as well have been headed to a family reunion.
"We didn't want to emerge on him, like 40 people on the first tee box, you know," Margaret Gay said. "I told them, 'We've got to stay kind of incognito. We don't want to blow his mind.' "
When they congregated behind the 18th green, some 40 strong who had come from Georgia, Florida and even as far away as New Jersey, the secret was out, and when the last putt dropped, giving Gay his second PGA Tour victory, the flood gates opened.
Nine-year-old Makinley hit the green first, with 5-year-old Brantley right behind and their mother, Kimberly, hot on their heels. A good, old group hug ensued as horns blared from the boats lined up in the Calibogue Sound.
When Gay picked up his first PGA Tour victory last spring at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, Kimberly and the girls were the only family members along for the ride, but they had plenty of company at this victory celebration.
Knowing Gay's second victory was a distinct possibility -- he had already fired three rounds in the 60s to build a three-shot lead -- Kimberly and Margaret started working the phones, ensuring the whole family would be at Harbour Town, snapping cell phone photos as tournament chairman Charlie Brown slipped a red tartan jacket on the new Heritage champion.
"It's pretty ironic, because down in Mexico people wanted to come, but it was tough to get there," Gay said. "They couldn't just show up, because it was tough getting international flights and everything.
"So it's pretty nice to have them all here."
That's not the only thing to sweeten this second victory. After a number of near-misses, Gay finally will get an invitation to the Masters next spring. He twice finished one spot too low on the money list to qualify, and his win at Mayakoba didn't do the trick, because it's played opposite the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships.
But finally, at age 37 and in his 11th full year on the PGA Tour, Gay is headed to Augusta, which is about an hour northeast of his childhood home of Louisville, Ga., where his mother and father attended high school together.
Familiar faces came from Louisville on Sunday, as well as Savannah and Orlando, eager to share in a victory that seemed secure before most of Gay's fan club caught up to him. Not wanting to be seen, most of the entourage was still making its way up the second fairway when their hero's 57-foot eagle putt dropped ahead, pushing his lead to six shots.
"I didn't see it," Makinley Gay said, "but I heard it."
By that point, Hilton Head Island's biggest annual party was being thrown in Gay's honor. Everybody else was just along for the ride. When it was finally over, a record 20 under next to his name on the leaderboard and a 10-shot margin of victory tucked away, it was off to the Harbour Town Grill for a proper celebration. This time, the party didn't have to wait.
"We had a big party for him when he got home (from Mexico)," Margaret said. "I met him at the airport with a limo and surprised him, so he was totally shocked that we were all there. It was about 11 o'clock at night, and then when he got home he had a houseful of friends and balloons and everything."
Nobody brought balloons to Harbour Town on Sunday. That tartan blazer will have to do.
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