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GREENSBORO — Jefferson Davis reportedly said “an inch is as good as a mile” after Yankees nearly blew up his train in 1865 near Greensboro.

Try telling that to Sergio Garcia — obviously the favorite from all the “Go Sergios” shouted. He had a three-shot lead at one point in the 2009 Wyndham Classic, but in the end, he might as well have been a mile short.

He needed a birdie to tie on the 18th hole, and his bunker shot stopped less than an inch from the cup. He walked slowly to the ball, hoping it would topple in.

That left the crowd favorite as Kevin Stadler, who finished in a tie with Ryan Moore and Jason Bohn.

“The fat guy is getting ready to hit it,” a spectator yelled from an 18th green skybox as Stadler played his second shot.

That was not a nice thing to say, but they yelled the same years ago about his father, the rotund Craig Stadler, who won what is now the Wyndham Championship in 1980.

Before a giant gallery at the Wyndham, Kevin Stadler bogied the third playoff hole, while Ryan Moore made a birdie to win the more than $900,000 first-place prize, plus the Sam Snead Cup.

The bearded 26-year-old Moore from Washington state wears as his trademark a painter’s cap that resembles an Army fatigue cap. After four years on tour and lots of runner-up finishes, Greensboro was Moore’s first tour win after a brilliant amateur career.

To borrow another quote, this one the title of a classic golf book by Dan Jenkins, the ’09 Wyndham was “dead solid perfect” from the standpoints of crowd, quality of golf and attendance.

“God gave us a beautiful Sunday,” declared the tournament director, Mark Brazil.

The Lord could have scored better the day before, for sure, but fans stayed loyal during two long storm delays.

Even bigger crowds returned Sunday for a round that was played in slightly less steamy weather than that which mugged Sedgefield most of the week.

The golfers leading the tournament were still playing the front nine when the digital scoreboards began flashing that the event was a sellout, followed by “Thanks Piedmont Triad for tremendous support.”

The use of “Piedmont Triad” instead of Greensboro is strategic to tournament organizers.

They seek to broaden the event’s appeal after returning to Sedgefield last year following 30 years at Forest Oaks Country Club.

Brazil kept saying “our town,” which he stressed meant Winston-Salem, Burlington, Lexington, High Point, towns in Virginia and other places.

He says the galleries were full of out-of-towners.

They were no doubt drawn because of Sedgefield beauty compared to the more isolated and less scenic Forest Oaks.

“The whole town is the Piedmont Triad,” declared Bobby Long, chairman of the foundation that sponsors the tournament.

Long greeted the stunned but elated Moore at the presentation on the 18th green, declaring, “Ryan, you are the man!”

“It has been a long day,” Moore said.

“It feels like a week.”

His voice was shaky, he said, because “I’ve never had to do this before.”

Before the start of the final round, Brazil sat in his golf cart beside the bust of Sedgefield’s designer, the great golf architect Donald Ross.

People filed by congratulating him on a tournament well done even though it wasn’t over.

Elizabeth Green, wife of Realtor and former golf pro Kevin Green, told Brazil she graded the 2009 Wyndam an “A plus plus.”

Even those who couldn’t tell a golf ball from a hockey puck enjoyed what they were seeing.

“It’s a nice environment,’' said Jean Pierre Mourro of Lima, Peru, who earlier in the week said he knew only that a golf course had 18 holes.

Sedgefield’s setting includes lots of Tudor and Gothic architecture and some houses as big as English castles.

English pro Justin Rose said earlier in the week, “The course has great flavor. It’s a fun place to play.”

Tournament officials said a sell-out translated to 25,000 people. Plus, they said, about 8,000 more took advantage of an offer to return Sunday using wet Saturday tickets.

Add another 2,000 volunteers, news people and other support people and at least 35,000 people crowded the course.

On the ninth hole, with its green in the crook of Sedgefield’s signature Tudor clubhouse, galleries lined both sides of the fairway as Garcia, Bill Haas and Chris Riley approached.

At the 18th hole, skyboxes with their pyramid roofs and people standing three and four deep beside them and down the fairway looked as impressive as a U.S. Open turnout.

No sore losers were seen. Garcia, despite blowing a three-shot lead and leaving that ball hanging on the lip at the 18th, hugged Brazil.

“He’s one of my best friends out there,’' Brazil said.

Another good loser: Bohn, eliminated on the first hole of the playoff — the 18th hole — after muffing his bunker shot.

While the gallery and officials rushed to the 10th tee to continue the play off with Moore and Stadler, Bohn shouted for someone to take notice.

He realized if Stadler and Moore tied the 10th — and they did — they’d play the 18th hole again.

“You’ve got to,” he yelled to no one in particular, “rake the bunker.”

Contact Jim Schlosser at 609-9879 or beale1@clearwire.net