Persistence earns Kanada his first win

By Mike Sorensen
Deseret Morning News

SANDY — It's hard to imagine a more appreciative winner than Craig Kanada, who became the Nationwide Tour's 11th straight come-from-behind winner with a one-shot victory over four golfers at the Utah Championship Sunday.
The 37-year-old Kanada (Kuh-NA-duh) has toiled on various golf tours for 15 years without a single victory. Three years ago he "basically started over" with his golf game in an effort for one last try at professional golf and said he was seriously considering "quitting" golf and moving on to something else after this year.
Those plans have changed after his victory at Willow Creek Country Club, which was worth $85,500, vaulting him from 80th to 28th place on the Nationwide Tour money list. He's now within range of making the top 20 and an automatic berth on next year's PGA Tour.
"To win now is absolutely amazing," said Kanada, who had five second-place finishes on the Nationwide Tour. "I honestly didn't think it would ever happen."
Kanada, whose final-round 71 gave him a 272 total, was a popular winner and thrilled to have his wife, Brooke, as well as their three children on hand for a group hug after the victory. As a bonus, his parents had come down from Portland to see their grandkids and were on hand for the celebration near the scorer's tent after his first victory.
As exciting as the victory was for Kanada, it was a difficult defeat for Bryce Molder, who had led the tournament since the first day and held a three-shot lead going into the final round. Molder, who only made one bogey the first three days, had four bogeys and a double bogey on his way to a 75. He tied for second with Michael Putnam, Gavin Coles and Ken Duke at 273.
The gracious Molder admitted he was "extremely nervous" Sunday and said he hoped he would handle the pressure of being in the lead next time.
"I didn't play poorly, I just played really below average," he said. "I just didn't make the putts or get the breaks I got the first few days to keep the momentum going."
Molder had to come out at 7:45 a.m. to finish his third round, which had been halted by lightning Saturday afternoon. He held a four-stroke lead but bogeyed the par-5 17th hole to finish at 18-under 198, still three shots ahead of Kanada.
He began his final round about four hours later and despite his nervousness was even par through six holes. However, a bogey at 7 and a double bogey at 8 erased Molder's lead, and at that point five golfers shared the lead at 15-under.
Molder made a nice birdie at the par-3 11th to retake the lead at 16-under and still held a one-shot lead going into No. 14. However, his 3-iron went into the trees on the right and he bogeyed. Then at 15 his 8-iron went left into the rough and he couldn't get up and down and fell to 14-under with another bogey.
Meanwhile, Kanada rolled in the biggest putt of his life, a 40-footer on the same hole, putting him two ahead of Molder.
"It looked good the whole way," Kanada said of his long putt.
That put him in control, but there was still some excitement left. At the par-5 17th, Molder was having an adventure, hitting his drive into the trees on the left and his second shot behind more trees and then rolling a shot up to the fringe of the green. But from there he sank an unlikely putt from 65 feet.
"That was one of the craziest birdies ever," he said. "All day long I hadn't had one thing go right, and then I walk up and make that and was like, 'This game is stupid."'
Molder had a chance to tie with a birdie at 18 but left his 25-footer from the fringe short. Then Kanada, after hitting the middle of the green two-putted from 30 feet for the victory.
Putnam, a 24-year-old Nationwide rookie, had the round of the day — perhaps the tournament — with his final-round 64 that moved him from 33rd place to second.
He was 1-over for the day going into the 9th hole and proceeded to go 9-under the rest of the day. He went birdie-eagle-birdie-eagle, then left birdie tries inches short at the next three holes before finishing with three straight birdies for a back-nine 29 and a 64.
"It was crazy. I couldn't believe what I was doing," said Putnam, who jumped to No. 12 on the money list with his $31,350 paycheck.
Sixteen-year-old Gipper Finau, who became the youngest golfer to make the cut at a PGA event in nearly 50 years, shot an even-par 72 to finish at even-par 288 in a tie for 58th place.
Finau made seven birdies on the day to finish with 24 for the week, more than anyone else in the field. However, a quadruple-bogey 7 on the par-3 15th hole spoiled his round and cost him a much higher finish.
The West High junior also finished the week with the highest driving distance average of any golfer at 339.6. Afterward, tournament executive director Evan Byers extended an invitation for Finau to play in next year's tournament.
Sandy's Steve Schneiter shot a final-round 74 to finish in a tie for 53rd place at 283, while Sandy's Todd Tanner shot a 75 to finish in a tie for 41st place at 281.

E-mail: sor@desnews.com

Article Courtesy of The Deseret News