Gas Station Owner Relishes Masters Appearance

MOST AMATEURS WHO PLAY in the Masters are rising young stars. This year four of the five Masters amateurs are ages 18 to 21.And then there’s Steve Wilson.Wilson is 39, a gas-station owner from Gautier, Mississippi, who makes po’ boy sandwiches for customers and happened to win the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in September to earn a spot in the Masters field.You might think Wilson is a fluke, but he can play, one of countless players who showed promise in his youth and eventually gave up on the dream when life intervened.“He played on the mini- tours until I ran out of money,” Wilson’s father told the St. Petersburg Times. “I was a retired Air Force sergeant, so I couldn't afford to build him a green and a sand trap in the back yard like Phil Mickelson's dad did.”Still, Wilson somehow made it to Augusta. There he was ? all grins ? in a Thursday threesome with Ian Poulter and former Masters champion Tom Watson.Surely Wilson was hoping for better than a 79. On Friday, he impro...