If beating Ernie Els in a playoff to get his first PGA Tour win didn't elicit much of a celebration, it shouldn't be too surprising that Jason Dufner didn't exactly start doing cartwheels on the green after draining a 25-footer for the win on Sunday.

Dufner's dramatic birdie gave him a one-shot victory over Dicky Pride at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. It also led to one of the least-excited reactions you'll ever see for a walk-off putt. Check out the final-round highlights.

After waiting until after he turned 35 to collect his first tour win, Dufner now has two in the past month. Who knows, he might have won at Quail Hollow too -- if he didn't have to get married that week.

And how about Dicky Pride? Dufner's closing birdie kept him from a second career PGA Tour title as well, but considering that first win came in 1994 and he hasn't been fully exempt on tour since 2007, a solo second and a check for $702,000 must have seemed like a win. Judging by his reaction to his finish -- which guarantees him full status on tour -- it did.

-- Alex Myers
Follow @AlexMyers3

Jason Dufner is not sleepwalking to stardom, though his demeanor might suggest otherwise. If he weren't an Auburn man, one might conclude that he is an adherent of the old Bear Bryant line, that when you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before.

He's now gotten to the end zone twice in three starts, the second coming when he holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the HP Byron Nelson Championship on Sunday to beat a 'Bama man, Dicky Pride, by a shot.

Photo by Getty Images.

"Jason won by one, but we've got the national title, big man," Pride said, showing more emotion for finishing second than Dufner did for winning, perhaps for good reason. Pride, 41, had been 354th in the World Ranking and has now earned a return to the PGA Tour full-time.

"All my buddies on the Nationwide Tour?" he said. "Guys, I love you, but I'm staying out here."

Meanwhile, Dufner, 35 and following a nondescript start to his career, is now, in fact, sprinting to stardom, this victory carrying him to No. 14 in the World Ranking and evoking a hint of a smile in the aftermath. His two PGA Tour victories have come in the last month, in between which he got married. Presumably, though not undoubtedly, he smiled in the wedding photo.

A group of citizens from Benton Harbor, Mich., that calls itself Occupy the PGA plans to protest at the Senior PGA Championship at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores next week and has sent a letter to the PGA of America demanding 25 percent of the tournament profits as "partial compensation for stolen land and water" and to help close budget deficits in the city.

The protest organizer, Rev. Edward Pinkney, said that his group does not plan to interrupt play. "We don't want to cause a tremendous disturbance," he said Friday, "we just want to make them sit down with us."

Pinkney said he expects only 300 to 400 protesters to show up on Wednesday, but on Saturday, "we're expecting thousands and thousands of people to show. The main thing we want to accomplish is that we want them to come to the table and sit down with us -- the PGA, along with Harbor Shores, Whirlpool and KitchenAid."

KitchenAid, which has headquarters in Benton Harbor, is the presenting sponsor. Whirlpool is KitchenAid's parent company.

"Benton Harbor is $5 million in the red," Pinkney said. "Our goal is that we can knock off some of that $5 million if they decide to come and help the city."

The letter Pinkney sent to the PGA of America last week was in care of David Charles, senior director of championships for the organization. It demanded "cancellation of the tournament in Benton Harbor. Failing that, we hereby make the following demands on the 2012 Senior PGA:

-- "Transfer 25% of the 2012 Senior PGA profits to the citizens of Benton Harbor as partial rightful compensation for stolen land and water and for the purpose of meeting budget deficits and building affordable housing for the people of Benton Harbor.

-- "We call on each of [the players competing in the tournament] to hear the grievances of the people of Benton Harbor and either withdraw from the tournament or show their support for the demonstration planned for May 23-27, Occupy the PGA.

-- "Acknowledge in an announcement at the Senior PGA event that the people of Benton Harbor have been exploited in numerous ways...including the theft of public park land for private profit and the complete undermining of democratic structures by the installation of an Emergency Financial Manager [in Benton Harbor]."

Julius Mason, senior director communications for the PGA of America, provided this statement regarding the planned protest:

"The PGA of America is excited about it collaboration with a broad section of Benton Harbor in bringing the 73rd Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid to this community, and its positive impact on its citizens. The residents of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph have welcomed the Senior PGA Championship as an opportunity to showcase the area's vibrant history, culture and economic transformation on a national stage."

As for security, "The safety and security of our players and spectators is our No. 1 priority at each of our events. The 73rd Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid is no exception."

Professional golf tournaments tend to provide economic boosts to communities and help fund charities in them, as Mason noted in an email exhange.

"Golf is a big job provider in the State of Michigan where more than 50,000 people make golf their career," he wrote. "So too does the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid which created more than 250 temporary jobs for people in this community. We're pleased with our work with the Consortium for Community Development to identify and train qualified individuals for positions requiring certain skills. We hope to see this lead to some of these individuals securing future full-time positions in a related field following the Championship.

"Golf and charity are intertwined at every level and our PGA Foundation, in conjunction with [the] Championship, will deliver hundreds of thousands of dollars of support for local charities including the Boys and Girls Club of Benton Harbor. The PGA of America will also collaborate with The First Tee of Benton Harbor on-site during the Championship.

"Golf is very proud of its positive environmental impact as well managed open green space that provides jobs, tourism, tax revenue, recreational benefits and uses national resources efficiently. The 530-acre Harbor Shores development, a former brownfield and Super Fund site, is a prime example of how golf can improve a community's land assets."

Pinkney said the Occupy the PGA movement already has proven successful. "They've been giving away tickets," he said, claiming responsibility. "Regardless what happens, we've already basically won this battle. Now they have to realize how serious we are and we're also going to be planning for 2014."

The Senior PGA Championship is scheduled to return to the Golf Club at Harbor Shores in 2014. The course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and was partially built on a portion of Jean Klock Park that the city sold to the Harbor Shores developers. Three of the holes are on park land that Harbor Shores leases from the city.

UPDATE: Jeff Noel, corporate vice president communications and public affairs for Whirlpool and the president of Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment, said in an email that Pinkney has never requested a meeting. "I am always happy to meet with any local community leader...Unfortunately, despite our seeing each other occasionally in the community, Reverend Pinckney has never requested a meeting with me or our organizations," Noel wrote. "If he did, I would welcome the chance to discuss the benefits of the Sr. PGA Tournament as well as ways in which the Harbor Shores development and the not for profit organizations associated with the project have helped raise over $7.5 million to build 3 new facilities for the Benton Harbor Boys and Girls Clubs and First Tee and have provided the private matching funds to help build and or renovate over 600 affordable homes in the community."

Noel also noted that two Harbor Habitat for Humanity homes "are currently under construction near the golf course thanks to volunteers, funding and land donated by Whirlpool Corporation and Harbor Shores."

-- John Strege

(Rhein Gibson center, flanked by his playing partners Eric Fox, left, and Ryan Munson, right. Photo via GolfOklahoma.org)

Let us all take a moment to congratulate Rhein Gibson for the remarkable 16-under 55 he shot over the weekend at River Oaks GC in Edmond, Oklah. As amazing as it was, it's still only tied for the lowest round of golf ever recorded -- Homero Blancas fired a 55 at the 1962 Premier Invitational, in Longview, Tex. While both rounds are equally remarkable, the Guinness Book of World Records does not recognize Blancas' round because it was shot on a course deemed "too short" (the course, which actually no longer exists, was a 9-hole layout with two different tee boxes on each hole to create the full 18 and was only slightly longer than 5,000 yards). So Gibson's 55 stands alone as the pinnacle of golf records; one that I am going to go on record as saying is unbeatable.

Unbeatable the way Joe Dimaggio's 56-game hitting streak is unbeatable; or Wilt's 100 point game (or his 55 rebound game); or Byron Nelson's 11-straight consecutive tour wins. But these records are all of the sports-bar trivia variety, the kind that even the most novice of fan would be able to answer. Luckily, sports is filled with enough bizarre facts to keep the Elias Sports Bureau in business, so I've collected nine more of the most random unbeatable records to never grace the pages of Guinness. With Gibson's 55, this is a top 10 list for you to throw around the water cooler.

From the May 21 issue of Golf World:

Rhein Gibson is 1,444th on the World Ranking, having missed three cuts and finished T-58 in two Nationwide Tour events and two Australian Tour events in 2010 and 2011. But when it comes to playing River Oaks GC in Edmond, Oklah., he's all-world.

Gibson set the course record of 60 earlier this month, then shattered that mark with a 16-under 55 on May 12 at the 6,850-yard venue. The 26-year-old Lismore, Australia, native is a 2008 graduate of Oklahoma Christian, where he was a NAIA All-American. He made 12 birdies, two eagles and four pars during his stellar round.

Gibson's round is believed to be one of the lowest recorded on a full-length (more than 6,000 yards) course. The only 55 recorded in tournament play was by Homero Blancas in the 1962 Premier Invitational in Longview, Texas.

-- John Antonini
Follow @johnantoninigw

On a Mother's Day when just about everyone associated with the Players -- from tour pros to volunteers -- wore pink to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Day, the closest Tiger Woods came to honoring the cause was the colorful energy drink he occasionally pulled from his golf bag. Apparently, Woods is in his own world when it comes to discussing his golf game as well.

Following a final-round 73 that included a dismal front-nine 40, he offered this stunning assessment:

"Just one of those things where Joe (LaCava) and I were talking about that on the front nine, I didn't really hit any bad shots, and all of a sudden, I had a bogey, a birdie and a double," Woods said.

Photo by Getty Images

LaCava is Woods' caddie. He also just might be the world's most patient listener. Then again, he is getting paid a lot more than most psychiatrists.

No bad shots? Did we hear that right? How about the sand wedge over the green on No. 1? How about the 9-iron from the middle of the fairway into the water on No. 4? How about the drive on the par-4 fifth? Or your tee shot on the par-3 eighth, both of which could barely be tracked on the computer screen by the PGA Tour's ShotTracker?

It was an odd Sunday at the Players Championship, one in which the final-round focus was bookended by men responsible for the most groans and grins.

The winner by a smile was Matt Kuchar, whose two-stroke victory at the TPC Sawgrass buttressed the notion that he is a major champion in training.

Kuchar, 33, has become an assembly line mass producing top 10s -- 20 in the previous two seasons (which would explain his grinning year to year) and five already this year. More importantly for the months ahead, four have come in the most important tournaments with the strongest fields to date: the Players (first), the Masters (a tie for third), the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (T-5) and the WGC-Cadillac Championship (T-8).

A month from now, Kuchar will be returning to U.S. Open at the Olympic Club outside San Francisco, where as an amateur in 1998 he tied for 14th and was tied for fourth through 36 holes. It doesn't make him a favorite, but he isn't a long shot, either.

Kuchar's happy nature, even on a TPC course capable of inflicting so much misery, gave the Players a happy ending that wasn't inevitable in the wake of the negative reaction to the man everyone was lamenting.

Related: Players tabbed as the next great American star 

Kevin Na dominated the weekend conversation at the showcase event of a tour that steadfastly declines to address the issue of slow play, as do many of the players responsible. Na, for instance, was graciously apologetic on Saturday for the pre-shot twitches that Johnny Miller described as "the heebie jeebies," and insisted he's working on correcting it. Is he? Six months ago, Na posted this on Twitter: "Trying my best to speed up. Working on a new pre shot routine. I am not playing so on purpose. Hope the viewers understand." It's a slow process, apparently.

Na, the 54-hole leader, attempted to quell the criticism by picking up the pace on Sunday, which might have contributed to a final-round 76 that left him in a tie for seventh.

A year after one of the toughest losses of his life, David Toms hoped returning to TPC Sawgrass would help jump start his 2012 season and it did. It just took 59 holes to get going.

At one-over par through five holes of his final round at the Players, Toms holed a wedge for eagle from 123 yards on the par-4 sixth. A couple hours later, he'd made the biggest move up the leader board on Sunday, closing with a 65 to jump into the top five at the time of signing his card.

"I was so far back, and I was just trying to have a decent finish," Toms said. "So, you know, no reason why I shouldn't shoot at a flag. What's the difference in 44th and 34th? That's the way I was playing out there, and I just happened to play a great round of golf."