Oh, Kanada: Journeyman wins first title

By Jay Drew
The Salt Lake Tribune

EnergySolutions champion Craig Kanada tees off on the 18th hole. (Chris Detrick/The Associated Press )

SANDY - He didn't fire the lights-out round he predicted it was going to take to win, nor did he falter down the stretch like he thought he might do when he got in contention, after never having won a golf tournament in his 15-year professional career.
Journeyman pro Craig Kanada, 37, of The Woodlands, Texas, did none of that, but he did drive out of the Willow Creek Country Club parking lot with the big hardware and check on Sunday, perhaps the most humble and thankful champion in the history of the Nationwide Tour event now known as the Utah Championship.
"To finally win one is absolutely amazing," said Kanada, who played in his first event on this tour in 1991 and has tied for second five times. "The last few years have been really lean, and it has been a struggle financially as well."
Three shots out of the lead when the final round began, Kanada shot a 1-under-par 71 and overtook Arkansas' Bryce Molder with a 16-under-par 272 for the victory and the $85,500 first-place check. He won by a stroke, and it was the biggest come-from-behind win in tournament history.
Molder, who also hasn't won on the tour, shot a 75 Sunday and finished in a four-way tie for second with Ken Duke, Gavin Coles and Michael Putnam. They each earned $31,350.
The highest finisher with Utah ties was Sandy's Todd Tanner, who tied for 43rd at 7 under. Steve Schneiter tied for 53rd and amateur Gipper Finau tied for 58th and was invited back to next year's tournament by director Evan Byers.
Kanada's wife and three children were there to witness the historic victory - Kanada contemplated getting out of golf last fall before gaining Tour status at qualifying school - and his parents drove down from Portland, Ore., to see their grandchildren and watch the event.
However, the biggest assist came from Molder, who shot 64-64 Thursday and Friday to jump out to a five-stroke lead, but could only manage a 70-75 on the weekend. It was the 11th straight week that the 54-hole leader on the tour has failed to win the tournament.
Third-round leaders have won just six of 24 events this season.
"I wish we could have played through [last] night," Molder said. "I really had it going, but it left me. I didn't play poorly. I just played really below average."
Molder had to return to the course early Sunday morning to complete the last three holes of his third round, but wouldn't blame that for his collapse.
"I would love to, but nah," he said. "I just didn't get the breaks [Sunday] like I was getting the days before."
Kanada clinched the win by making a testy 3-footer on the 18th green for par - "I can't tell you how many bad thoughts I had before that putt," he said - but he really won the tournament on No. 15, a par 4, when he rolled in a 40-footer for birdie while Molder was making a bogey.
"Right then I knew I was in control," he said.
But it wasn't over.
Molder made a miraculous birdie on No. 17, twice punching out from tree trouble before holing a 60-footer from the fringe, to get within a shot. Last week's winner, Coles, and Duke both also birdied No. 17, Duke from a fairway bunker, to put some pressure on Kanada.
"Trying to hang on there was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do," said Kanada, who has figured if he was ever going to win a tournament, it would be from behind. "I was nervous the whole day, and I felt slightly out of sync. Bryce let me back in it, for sure."
Kanada said he "played some really bad golf" in 2002 and 2003, and believed he would never win again.
"Just making it on tour last fall was a victory in and of itself," he said.
Now he's got a trophy - and a big check - to prove it.
drew@sltrib.com

Article Courtesy of The Salt Lake Tribune