by Jay Drew
Jay Drew is a sports writer for the Salt Lake Tribune and a frequent contributor to Fairways

Fall - November - 06
Kanada Wins the Utah EnergySolutions Championship

“It is just absolutely amazing to finally win a golf tournament, no matter what happens the rest of my golf career,” said Kanada, a 37-year-old father of three from The Woodlands, Texas. “The last few years have been really lean, and it has been a struggle financially as well.”

Three shots off the lead entering the final round of the Utah EnergySolutions Championship, Kanada shot a 1-under-par 71 at Willow Creek Country Club and overtook Arkansas’ Bryce Molder with a 16-under-par 272 for the victory and the $85,500 first-place check.

It was the biggest come-from-behind win in tournament history.

Kanada 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.

But he drove out of the parking lot with the big hardware and check, perhaps the most thankful champion in the history of the event.

Molder, who also hasn’t won on the tour, shot a 75 in the final round 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 — more on him later — 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 to jump out to a five-stroke lead, but could only manage a 70 and a 75 over the weekend. It was the 11th straight week that the 54-hole leader on the tour had failed to win the tournament.

“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. Coles, who won the previous week, 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 in on tour last fall was a victory in and of itself,” he said.

Molder’s Moments
Prior to Kanada’s Komeback, the 2006 Utah EnergySolutions Championship seemed destined to be known for the week that Molder finally broke through.

A lot was expected from Molder when he graduated from Georgia Tech in 2001, mostly because the golf phenom became only the fourth collegian in history to earn first-team all-America honors four consecutive years, joining David Duvall, Phil Mickelson and Gary Hallberg.

A round in which he shot a 12-under-par 60 while playing with fellow Arkansas native Pres. Bill Clinton only heightened expectations, and as the century began Molder was believed to be the next big thing in professional golf.

It hasn’t happened for the 27-year-old from Little Rock, who is still trying to attain the stardom he was headed toward. Molder shot an 8-under-par 64 as the tournament started, sharing the first-round lead with Georgia’s 41-year-old Scott Parel, who was a computer programmer for 10 years before turning pro.

“I didn’t hit it spectacularly well, I just happened to score really well,” Molder said. “I missed an 8-footer [for birdie] on the second hole. Other than that, I could not have shot any lower.”

Molder needed just 21 putts on his way to eight birdies and no bogeys, the longest putt he made being a 20-footer on No. 5. (Willow Creek’s nines are reversed for the tournament). He hit just 11 of 18 greens in regulation.

“I made everything, really,” he said. “I haven’t been putting especially well, but they all found the hole today.”

Molder said it hasn’t been easy dealing with so many high expectations.

“The tough thing was you see how guys play and you convince yourself there is only one right way to play, and that is to hit the exact same shot over and over,” he said. “I fell into that trap, and felt that what I was doing was not good enough.”

He said this year he got back to hitting shots that fit his game, rather than someone else’s.

“It’s been a long process,” he said, “but I am hitting more really good shots this year than I ever have.”

One For The Gipper
Prior to September of 2006, 16-year-old Gipper Finau, a junior at Salt Lake City’s West High, was mostly known for being the younger brother of U.S. Junior Ryder Cup member Tony Finau, who was given an exemption into the tournament by Byers because he won the State Amateur in July at Soldier Hollow.

That all changed after the second round of the tournament, as Gipper Finau become the youngest golfer in history to make the cut at a Nationwide Tour event and the second-youngest to make the cut at any PGA Tour tournament.

Gipper fired a 5-under-par 67 on Friday to go with the 73 he shot Thursday to make the cut.

At 4-under-par 140, Finau was tied for 41st place and got to play during the weekend.

“I expected to be here,” he said. “All us young kids, we know we have the game to make some noise. It is just a matter of getting comfortable out here.”

More Molder
While the second round’s focus was clearly on Gipper Finau, Molder continued to dominate the early portion of the tournament. He was at 16-under-par 128 entering the weekend, the largest 36-hole lead on the tour this season.

The total was just one above the tournament record of 127, set by David Sutherland in 2001.

“You are not thinking of [shooting a] 64 when you got out there, but conditions were great,” Molder said. “You make a few birdies, and it turns into a 64.”

In a foreshadowing of things to come, Molder downplayed the big lead.

“It is like being ahead after the first quarter in basketball,” he said.

Signs that this would not be Molder’s week emerged in the third round, when he was one of seven golfers on Saturday who were not able to finish their rounds.

Play was suspended twice that day as rain and lightning moved into the area. In the eight years this tournament has been held at Willow Creek, it has experienced at least one weather suspension every year except 2004.

Kanada (pronounced: Kuh-NAH-duh) finished about 20 minutes before the final suspension, made an eagle on his first hole and was 4-under through four holes. After the first delay, he returned to the course and three-putted No. 15 for his only bogey, but righted himself with a birdie on the par-5 17th hole.

Turns out, that was all the momentum he needed to continue the magic into Sunday. That, and a major meltdown by Molder.