Page 92 - South Mississippi Living - April, 2024

SPORTS & OUTDOORS
Enters MGA Hall of Fame
story by
Tommy Snell
photo courtesy of the
Mississippi Gulf Association
When Ocean Springs native Steve Wilson thrashed
Todd Mitchell 5 and 4 to win the 2008 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Milwaukee Country Club, the St. Martin High School grad knew he had set his life’s course record, but he didn’t realize what the victory would really mean. Wilson entered the Mississippi Golf Association Hall (MHA) of Fame on Saturday, February 24, 2024, the culmination of an amazing 16-year run.
MGA Executive Director Carter Page described Wilson
as “humble, inviting, and welcoming” at the induction ceremony, but some of his closest friends who have witnessed his tenacity on the course would describe him differently.
Friends? Wilson has many. Probably his closest friend and business partner, Keith Fayard, labeled Wilson as a “good, kind-hearted person.” He was quick to quip, “Now, that’s off the course.”
On the course the “tag team” of Fayard and Wilson use their quick wit to jab at each other and their opponents. Thin-skinned golfers don’t last long in their one-liner foursomes. Wilson may be “humble, inviting, and welcoming” to most, but to his opponents and friends, he is the Don Rickles of the Gulf Coast. Bobby Mahoney and
yours truly have been in the ring a few times with the tag team, and there is never a shortage of 3-putts and anecdotes.
Wilson has won the Mississippi State Amateur Championship twice, along with countless other events, but nothing was as big as winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur and playing in the 2009 Masters. “Winning that tournament has cost me a fortune,” joked Wilson. He first described his national victory as “winning the lottery,” but to golfers, the accomplishment might be bigger than a set of numbers.
“The putter finally worked,” he confessed. “My tee-to- green game seemed to always work, but in Milwaukee, my putter finally worked.” Wilson, his “Billy Baroo” putter, and his wisecracks recently entered the MGA Hall of Fame, but those who have known the MGCCC and USM graduate for years knew it was a matter of time.
MGA President Ethan Smith summed up how most golfers feel about Steve’s induction, “Steve is the envy of all us mid amateur golfers. He’s won the tournaments we want to win and competed with the best in the world as an amateur golfer from the Mississippi Coast. Steve is one of the few that has achieved that level of success and still finds the desire to continue competing on the state and local level.”
92 | April 2024
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