Molder still leads; Kanada closes in
Rain delays play at Nationwide event, which ends today
By Michael Black
Deseret Morning News
SANDY— Saturdays on tour are known as "moving day." Many
players did just that for the third round of the Utah Energy
Solutions Tournament at the Willow Creek Country Club before
play was suspended for weather.
The leader through two rounds, Bryce Molder was not
one of the big movers. He he did not have the same type of
round as the first two days, where he shot back-to-back bogey-free
64s. He was 3-under-par through 15 holes before play was called
and stood at 19-under-par for the tournament. It wasn't a horrible
performance, but it did allow some of the field a little closer.
Molder birdied the par-5 third but gave back the shot on the
sixth hole with his first and only bogey thus far of the tournament.
He finished the front-nine in even-par before posting birdies
at 10, 12 and 13. He was through 15 before play was suspended
for the second weather delay. Seven players were still on the
course when it was called.
It may not necessarily be a good thing for Molder to have the
54-hole lead. For 10 consecutive weeks, the Nationwide Tour
has had a come-from-behind winner on the last day, and only
six of 23 winners this year have had the lead after three rounds.
However, the stop in Utah has been kinder to 54-hole leaders
as five of the last seven leaders have gone on to the victory.
While the day's leader started slowly, Craig Kanada was tearing
up the course. The 37-year-old from The Woodlands, Texas, shot
a 7-under-par 65 and is at 15-under for the tournament. He
got off to a great start and only Mother Nature slowed him
down. He was through 14 holes before lightning stopped play
for one hour and 42 minutes.
"I hit a great drive off one to start, and then a 4-iron to 5 feet and
made the putt (for eagle). It kind of got the adrenaline going," Kanada
said. "I hit a good putt on four and it was a perfect start, 4 under after
four ... On 11, I hit it to 25 feet and the putt had about 6 feet of break.
I slid that in, and I knew it was my day.
"Then the rain delay came and it was tough.
I had a lot of time to kind of wind down, which was not a good
thing. I three-putted the first hole back because I was a little
out of sync, but in a way it kind of got me worked back up
and I finished well."
Kanada, who is currently 80th on the Nationwide money list
and has been playing off-and-on the tour since 1991, is searching
for his first win after finishing second five times. He is
playing the Nationwide Tour full time for the first year since
2002 after spending the past couple years on the Canadian Tour,
and according to him, "anyplace I could play." He
said that the round was a pleasant surprise for him.
"You figure eight shots back, you know you need to go lights out," said
Kanada. "You know with the way Molder was playing he was not going to
back up. Hopefully, I could just get in the last group with him and go a little
head-to-head."
Besides Kanada's low round, Jamie Broce shot a 6-under 66 to
move to 12 under and is tied with Scott Parel. Ken Duke is
in third place by himself at 13 under. Tripp Isenhour, Ricky
Barnes, Scott Petersen and Craig Lile are all at 11 under.
Petersen still has one hole to play, and Lile has two. Todd
Tanner of Sandy and Kevin Durkin matched Broce's 66 and are
both 10 under.
Other than Tanner, the local players had a bit of a rough round.
Gipper Finau shot a 76 and is in last place at even-par while
Steve Schneiter shot a 1-over 73 to drop to a tie for 33rd
at 7-under.
The seven players left to finish the third round will do so
today beginning at 7:45 a.m. before the fourth-round tee times
start at 8:30, with leaders teeing off at 1:15 p.m.
E-mail: mblack@desnews.com
Article
Courtesy of The Salt Lake Tribune
