At 39, Franklin Langham is one of the oldest winners on the Nationwide Tour this year. (WireImage)

SANDY, Utah -- Franklin Langham held off all challengers on Sunday to notch his third career Nationwide Tour victory at the $500,000 Utah Championship. The former University of Georgia All-American posted a 3-under 68 to finish his 190th start on Tour at 20-under-par 264. In the process, he topped Richard Johnson (68) by two strokes in what turned out to be a two-man horse race on the back nine at the par-71 Willow Creek Country Club.

"Richard and I went head to head today and it was a lot of fun," said Langham, who hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation. "Winning is never easy and it isn't supposed to be. But it sure feels good when you pull it off."

Langham and Johnson were paired in the final group and their steady play helped put distance between themselves and a strong group of contenders -- including current PGA TOUR members Mark Hensby (finished tied for third, three shots back) and Chris Tidland (finished tied for fifth, four shots behind).

"Outside of the great players like Tiger [Woods] and Vijay [Singh] and those guys, there is really not a whole lot of difference in the talent level between the PGA TOUR and the Nationwide Tour," said Langham, who is a 15-year veteran of both Tours. "The gap keeps closing and closing. We had a good many guys come down from the TOUR this week and it's not like they mowed over the field. Some of them had good finishes but there is such a fine line there."

Langham began the day with a two-stroke lead, but got off to a horrid start when he hit his opening tee shot out of bounds. The opening bogey was counted by an eagle-birdie start by Johnson. Langham was unfazed, however, finally pulling ahead for good when he moved to 19 under after a birdie on the par-4 14th hole. Johnson had a chance to tie on the same hole, but missed a three-foot birdie attempt.

"I hit it out of bounds on the first hole but managed to regroup," said Langham. "It (the score) flipped right away ... but I wasn't going to let one hole get me down. I putted so good this week, so I knew there were birdies to be had."

Speaking of putting, it has been the key to Langham's turnaround this season (he began the year missing the cut in six out of his first seven starts). He finished the week as the top-ranked putter in the field -- posting a four-day average of 27 putts per round.

"I got off to such a bad start this season," said Langham, who credits his short-game prowess to having learned its importance as a youngster while watching the pros on the 16th green while operating a greenside scoreboard at the Augusta National Golf Club.

"The putter has been the key for me the last couple of months and it was definitely the key for me this week," he added. "You just hope you are the one who ends up making the most putts and I did that this week."

Perhaps the putter kept Langham from encountering the pitfalls on Sunday that have stricken the last four 54-hole leaders on Tour -- most notably the last two tournaments, which produced winners who stormed back from seven shots down on the final day. Despite not earning an official wire-to-wire win, Langham did manage to hold at least a share of the lead each day -- jumping out to an 18-hole tie with Craig Lile, and then holding the outright lead the next two days.

With the victory, Langham adds $90,000 to his bank account to increase his season earnings to $170,966 -- moving from the insecure position of 57th on the money list (the top 60 players advance to the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship) into the 20th spot.

More importantly, by moving into The 25 and securing one of the coveted golf caddie bibs, Langham has positioned himself for a late-season run to return to the PGA TOUR. He's looking forward to another crack at the biggest stage in golf -- after tallying nearly $3.5 million in earnings and posting four runner-up finishes since his rookie season in 1996.

"I've still got a long way to go," said Langham. "But I got off to such a bad start to the season ... it will be nice to take a sword to a sword fight (the rest of the season) instead of a knife."

The 2007 season has seen its share of youthful winners -- including 19-year-old Jason Day and 23-year-olds Daniel Summerhays and Nick Flanagan.

Sunday's victory by Langham, however, is another in the veterans column, as the 39-year-old adds his name to the season winner's list, which includes 40-year-old Jay Williamson and 42-year-old Skip Kendall, just to name a few. It also guarantees that golf fans will continue to see the likeable Langham for several years to come.

"In this job, the only security you have is winning," said Langham. "The last few years I've contemplated if I keep doing this or something else for a living. I've always made decisions based on me and my golf career. But now I've got four boys that are getting older and a great wife at home ... and they need me. It is a constant struggle. We'll perhaps analyze things again next year and perhaps take them out on the road with us."

Final-Round News & Notes: Franklin Langham has posted three top-10 finishes at the Utah Championship in his four starts here. In addition to his win, he had a runner-up showing in 2004 and a tie for sixth in 2003. Langham also posted a runner-up finish in 1995 when the Tour hosted the Utah Open. ... Langham becomes the eighth player this season to add a third career Nationwide Tour victory to his resume. The others include Skip Kendall, Nick Flanagan, Roland Thatcher, Tom Scherrer, Brad Elder, Jimmy Walker and Nick Flanagan. Langham's earlier victories came at the 1993 Permian Basin Open and the 2004 Rheem Classic. ... Richard Johnson has now played in the final group three times this season without a victory. Sunday marked his second runner-up finish of the season (Northeast Pennsylvania Classic). ... The 54-hole leader has gone on to win 14 of 25 events this season. At the Utah Championship, the 54-hole leader has won six of nine times. ... Players without a bogey on Sunday included Bob Burns (64), Chris Tidland (66), Adam Meyer (67) and Todd Demsey (69). There were 29 such rounds this week. Speaking of Todd Demsey, he ended the week with the longest bogey-free streak, playing the last 37 holes without a bogey. ... The Nationwide Tour heads north this week for the Oregon Classic presented by Kendall Automotive Group, the 26th event of the season. Last year, Cliff Kresge outlasted Ricky Barnes on the third playoff to notch his third career Tour victory.