Mark Wilson’s caddy, Chris P. Jones, (left) talks with Wilson on the course.

Mathematician, competitor, philanthropist, dad. Mark Wilson is his own foursome.

Just watch him as he practices for the US Bank Championship. On a bright July morning at Brown Deer Golf Course, Wilson studies each shot from every angle and works out any kinks in his game. Then he pauses on the 18th fairway to accommodate a fan who wants him to videotape a birthday greeting. Later, he joins wife Amy for lunch in the clubhouse.

"There’s no reason not to like Mark," says J.P. Hayes, a fellow PGA Tour golfer who hails from Appleton.

Wilson grew up in Menomonee Falls (his parents now live in Pewaukee) and attended Wisconsin Lutheran High School. After earning a degree in math from the University of North Carolina, where he played golf on scholarship, Wilson turned pro.

Wilson now lives in Elmhurst, Ill., with Amy and their son, Lane, who was born last August. No matter where he’s unpacked his suitcase, Wilson has held on tight to his Wisconsin family-and-faith roots.

"Golf is an avenue to touch people or influence people," says Wilson. "If I was home, just letting the interest earn on our bank account, I would be dishonoring God and the talent he has given me."

While not exactly a household name on the pro tour, Wilson became one of golf’s best stories last year. It wasn’t just that he garnered his first Tour victory (at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), it was how he did it.

In the tournament’s second round, Wilson reported a rules violation by his caddie to officials, who assessed a two-stroke penalty. Still, Wilson worked his way to the top of the leaderboard and into a four-way playoff for the title. He won on the third extra hole. That earned him $990,000 and the admiration of golf fans everywhere — he received some 500 congratulatory e-mails.

"The win probably surprised him more than anybody else," says Hayes. "I’ve always thought he was a great player."

Wilson says he considered himself a journeyman. "Now," he says, "I have to have the mentality of a top player in the world, where you’re not playing for money to support your family, you’re playing for the competitive nature of golf and trying to beat the best players in the world."

Before his Honda Classic victory, Wilson’s biggest moment in golf came in the 1992 US Junior Championship, a match-play event. There, he played an up-and-comer by the name of Eldrick Woods to the final hole. Woods went on to win, and to become known worldwide by his nickname: Tiger.

"It was an experience I’ll never forget, to play against the hottest ticket in sports now," recalls Wilson. "Everybody knew about him even when he was 16 years old. It would have been really neat if I’d won it, but once again God has a plan for me and that wasn’t part of it."

Wilson took up golf as a youngster, taught by Ed Terasa at Oconomowoc

Country Club and Dave Rasmussen in high school; he was a state high school champion as a freshman. "I had a great season (playing golf) between my junior and senior years, and that put me on the map with college coaches," recalls Wilson.

Wilson headed to college, a math major who already knew he wanted to make golf his career.

"(School) was a lot more difficult than it was in high school, but I stuck with it," he explains. "I think that prepared me, too, for life on the PGA Tour, the challenge of learning those new things and it not coming that easy sometimes. There are certain classes it took months for me to figure out what was going on. Sometimes that’s the way my golf game operates."

Wilson graduated from North Carolina in 1997 and immediately turned pro, working his way up through the minor events until joining the PGA Tour in 2003. Because he’d never finished in the top 125 in annual prize money or won a tournament, each fall he’d have to compete in "Q-School" to qualify for the next season.

Winning the Honda Classic earned Wilson a two-year exemption from having to qualify for the tour last December, and the timing couldn’t have been better, with a new baby in the house.

"Around two months of age, he began smiling and I absolutely melted," says Wilson. The couple already is taking Lane to tournaments.

Mark and Amy met about six years ago on a blind date set up by mutual friends. At the time, she was working for Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. They joke that her job involved traveling all week and being home on weekends, while in his job a person wants to work weekends — that means he’s made the cut for the final two rounds of a tournament.

"I never in a million years thought this would be my life," says Amy. "It’s so much fun to come to the next tournament and see everyone. Each family is its own team; in team sports, the family isn’t as much of a focus."

Over the winter, the Wilsons installed a Full Swing Golf simulator in the basement of their home. A projector, computer and large screen, plus a putting surface, make it possible for Mark to "play" the courses on which he competes throughout the year. "And best of all," Wilson reports, "Lane loves watching Daddy practice."

Of course, Wilson has other coaches in his corner.

Jim "Doc" Suttie, who teaches out of Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in suburban Chicago, has been Wilson’s swing coach for a couple of years. For instance, they have worked to improve Wilson’s left-hand grip and posture.

"You do it a little at a time," Suttie explains. "You have to give a player the right dosage and work with what they can do so they can be successful.

"He’s a very analytical guy, so he’s a very good student. But in a way, that hurts him. You don’t want him to be analytical when he plays; you want him to be more natural and reactive, so he’s all put together and he just reacts to the target."

Meanwhile, Hayes, who has made more than $6.7 million on the PGA Tour, has played practice rounds with Wilson, but says, "I don’t think he’s learning anything from me.

"I think the only thing he’s learning now is how good he can be. That’s a learning process we all go through."

His caddie, Chris P. Jones, says Wilson is "maybe more" well-liked among Tour players than are some others. "He’s a good guy and it’s easy to get along with him," Jones explains. "Not everyone is."