Mike Reid may be the only professional golfer alive who could win a major then tenderly and humbly apologize because two other competitors blew chances to win.
But that's Mike Reid, one of the great gentlemen of the game, a great ambassador for golf.
Sure, Steve Pate and Dana Quigley had their chances to win last week's Senior PGA Championship. But neither could duplicate what Reid did when it counted.
Reid was three-under on the 18th twice, back-to-back through regulation and the sudden-death playoff. Reid was the only player in the field to score under par for all three rounds.
Vintage Mike Reid: Steady, consistent, dependable.
This week Reid's in Polk City, Iowa for the Allianz Championship at the Tournament Club of Iowa.
Sunday's victory launched Reid from 26th to 10th on the Champion's Tour money list. That win, a major, opens the door for Reid, who makes his home in Orem. Exemptions, invitations to other majors, a pathway to a new potentially lucrative career now awaits the former BYU All-American.
"It couldn't happen to a better guy," said his former college coach Karl Tucker. "I think everyone who knows golf got great satisfaction in seeing Mike win that tournament."
Reid's son Daniel didn't mind at all that his dad missed his graduation form Orem High this past weekend. "To tell you the truth, I wanted to go caddy for him but my mom wanted me to walk with my class, go to graduation."
During the final round, back in Utah, Mike's family watched through No. 16, then Randolyn took the kids to church.
At that stage, it appeared Reid would have little chance of winning or even coming in second place.
Daniel and his younger brother Johnny stayed for the thrilling, almost story book finish.
When his father won, after trailing Pate by three shots going into the final hole, Daniel started shaking, an electric current of adrenaline shot through this body.
"I was so excited, so pumped up," He said.
Afterwards, Daniel sneaked into church late and mouthed the words to his mother: "He won!"
And the reaction? "Mom was pretty excited."
So was the Utah PGA Section, according to executive director Scott Whitaker. Reid spoke at the all-state high school banquet hosted by the Utah *Section two weeks ago.
"Mike told us how it felt to lose close tournaments, like he did after leading in the final rounds of the 1989 PGA Championship and Masters.
He said Jack Nicklaus and Payne Stewart both came up to him afterwards and consoled him by telling him losing those leads and losing those tournaments is not how he'd be measured."
True, Sunday helped erase 1989 and imprint an added measurement of Reid. On Sunday, Reid felt for Pate and Quigley because he'd been there.
Tucker called Reid's victory on Sunday sweet justice for a deserving competitor.
Tucker recalled back in Reid's college days, a tournament in Albuquerque, N.M., when he lost by one stroke to a player at UTEP.
"Earlier in the round, Mike made a birdie on a par-5 and I went up to congratulate him. He said he made par. I told him I counted, and he had only four stokes, a birdie. Mike disagreed, it was a five. He said when he went to address the ball, it moved in the grass, nestling down, a one-stroke penalty."
Nobody knew. Nobody would know. But Reid knew and respected the rules of the game.
In that final round, the UTEP player's ball came to rest in some grass 10 feet from the hole and decided he'd take a drop to improve his lie.
The conditions didn't merit a free drop. Reid didn't challenge the decision by the Miner star.
"After it was over, we were heading home and Mike asked me why he'd lost," Tucker said. "I told Mike he'd lost that tournament by one stroke because he was honest, and he lost because he didn't call the other guy on his free drop that wasn't right.
"But that defines Mike Reid. He couldn't not cheat to win a tournament, but he couldn't not call down or confront the other guy for fear of embarrassing him."
That, in short, is how Mike Reid can win a senior PGA major event, then apologize because he thought the other guys deserved the trophy more.
Today, Reid leads in the Charles Schwab Cup Points on the Champions Tour, a contest worth more than $2 million.
"What we learned from the Mike Reid story," East Bay professional Kean Ridd said, "is patience, patience, patience."
For the 50-year old Reid's bag, patience is only one of his many well-worn virtues.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com