Lively pair battling for golf crown

By Mike Sorensen
Deseret Morning News

Craig Lile

SANDY — If Franklin Langham and Craig Lile are still tied by the weekend at the Utah Championships, they could be quite a lively pairing to watch.

Lile, a 30-year-old from South Africa, and Langham, a 39-year-old from Georgia, both shot 8-under-par 63s within a half hour of each other Thursday at Willow Creek Country Club. Then, as Lile answered questions from a handful of reporters in the press room, Langham sat in the back and kept up a running commentary with his friend.

Sometimes it was almost hard for the reporters and moderator to get a word in as the two golfers joked back and forth.

"I'm not really a scoreboard-watcher, but I saw Franklin up there at 8-under and said, 'I better make this,"' Lile said of the 25-footer he drained at No. 18 to forge the tie.

Langham replied, "Are you tied with me? I thought you were one back."

Later when Lile said he sank an eight-foot birdie putt at No. 10, Langham interjected, "You made an 80-footer?"

"An 85-footer, actually," replied Lile.

And so it went as the banter continued until the end of the interview. When Lile was asked how long he's known Langham, he deadpanned, "We just met this morning."

The players actually know each other from playing together on the Nationwide Tour the past three or four years, but both players have PGA Tour experience.

Lile is a PGA Tour rookie this year, while Langham has played the big tour off and on since 1992, winning more than $4 million over that span.

While both are happy to be leading after Day One, they know a lot of low scores are out there.

Former Utah Open winner Todd Demsey and Curtis Malm are a stroke back at 64, while Tom Sherrer and Edward Loar stand at 65.

Among local golfers, Bountiful's Garrett Clegg has the best score, a 67, followed by Farmington's Daniel Summerhays at 68.

Lile qualified for this year's PGA Tour this year by finishing in a tie for 16th at the PGA Tour qualifying tournament last fall. He's only made eight cuts in 17 events and won $125,302, putting him 194th on the money list.

"I thought I might get a bit overwhelmed, but I haven't," he said. "I just haven't played well."

Lile is one of about a half dozen exempt PGA Tour players in Utah this week because they aren't eligible for the PGA's FedEx Cup events.

He birdied the first three holes on each nine and added birdies at 16 and 18 with a 25-footer at the final hole.

Langham has played the PGA Tour events in 13 different seasons and as a regular six times. His best season was 2000, when he finished second three times and ended up 26th on the money list.

He's has played in Utah five times and finished second twice — at the 1995 tournament when it was in Provo and in 2004 when he finished a shot behind Brett Wetterich.

"I've got good memories here," he said. "I love coming to Salt Lake. I brought my wife this year. I love the area."

In Thursday's round, Langham finished with a flourish, making birdies on the last three holes to get to 8-under.

Demsey is a former winner of the Utah Open, played at the same Willow Creek layout in 1998. He was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor five years ago and had surgery, but a slow-growing tumor returned this summer. He is scheduled to start radiation treatment in December.

"I really don't think about it," he said. "I don't have many side effects, so there's no excuse for bad golf. It's really not a problem at all."

At No. 52 on the money list, Demsey would love a high finish this week to improve his chances of playing on the PGA Tour next year. The top 25 on the Nationwide money list at the end of the year earn spots on the PGA Tour the following year.

TOURNEY NOTES: The field will be cut to the low 60 and ties after Friday's round. The cut is expected to be under par, perhaps the same as last year's cut of 4-under ... The Willow Creek layout is playing as a par-71 this year because No. 18 has been made into a par-3 for the week ... Besides Clegg, who has been a part-time player on the Nationwide Tour this year and Summerhays, who won a Nationwide event in July as an amateur, the next best score among locals belongs to Daniel's older brother, Boyd at 69 ... Brothers Tony and Gipper Finau each finished with scores of 74 and stand in a tie for 128th place ... Among the other golfers with local ties, St. George native Jay Don Blake shot 70, Provo's Dan Forsman and Layton's Barry Schenk and ex-SUU golfer Kenny Ebalo shot 72s, Draper's Mark Owen 73, Draper's Ryan Ellis 74, Salt Lake's Kury Reynolds 75 and Sandy's Steve Schneiter 76 ... Garrett Willis, the 2005 tournament champion, shot a 67 and is tied for 15th place.