Molder pushes lead to 5 strokes

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 9, 2006 | by Mike Sorensen Deseret Morning News

SANDY -- Bryce Molder hasn't won a golf tournament since he was the college player of the year at Georgia Tech five years ago.

But a second straight 64 has put him in prime position to win his first professional tournament at the Utah EnergySolutions Championship at Willow Creek Country Club.

After making eight birdies and no bogeys a day earlier, Molder duplicated his feat Friday with another bogeyless round that included eight birdies. That puts the 27-year-old Arkansas native five shots ahead of Jeff Quinney and six shots ahead of four golfers, Gavin Coles, Craig Lile, Kevin Stadler and Scott Peterson going into today's third round.

"You're not thinking 64 when you go out there, especially on a course like this," Molder said. "But the conditions were great and I kept getting a lot of good bounces when I'd make a bad shot and I kept making a lot of putts. Obviously I'm extremely happy to play as well as I have."

Molder is also quick to say that the tournament is far from over, despite the large margin at the halfway point.

"It's hard to count how much of a lead you have after two rounds - - it's like after about the first quarter of a basketball game," he said. "You like to be ahead, but there's still a lot of golf out there."

While Molder was threatening to run away and hide from the field, the other big news out of Willow Creek Friday was local teenager Gipper Finau making the 36-hole cut (see related story).

Finau, who just turned 16 last month, fired a 5-under-par 67 and stands in a tie for 41st place for a two-day total of 140. He is the youngest amateur to make the cut in the 17-year history of the Nationwide Tour and the second youngest in history to make the cut in a PGA Tour event.

Quinney, a former U.S. Amateur champion from Oregon, put his 67 on the board in the morning and held the lead until Molder's afternoon round.

The 27-year-old Quinney has a local connection in that his father, Bob, played college basketball for BYU in the 1960s. Quinney said he took a visit to BYU but chose to play in the sun at Arizona State. He has played well this year, ranking fifth on the Nationwide Tour with $239,684 in winnings.

Besides Finau, two Utah golfers survived the cut.

Sandy's Steve Schneiter, a regular on the Nationwide Tour this year and a member at Willow Creek, shot a 6-under-par 66 to move into a tie for 12th place at 136.

Playing in the final group of the day, Sandy's Todd Tanner shot a 69 to finish on the cut line at 140. He broke the hearts of 13 golfers at 141 when he made a birdie at 17 to go to 4-under. If Tanner had remained at 3-under, he still would have made the cut, but so would the other 13 because the low 60 pros plus ties made the cut.

TOURNEY NOTES: One lucky fan will walk away from the tournament with a new Toyota thanks to a player sinking a hole-in-one during Wednesday's Pro-Am. A lucky fan's name will be drawn Sunday at Willow Creek following the final round of play. Fans can register to win the Toyota by dropping by the Toyota tent near the 18th hole at Willow Creek. No purchase is necessary ... Defending champion Garrett Willis missed the cut after rounds of 74 and 70. Also missing the cut were former BYU golfer Ron Harvey Jr. (70-74), and local golfers Boyd Summerhays (75-69), Joseph Summerhays (70-75), Pete Stone (73-72), Mark Owen (76-71), Ashdon Woods (74-74), Henry White (76-75) and Kury Reynolds (74-78) ... Tony Finau, Gipper's older brother, shot a 72 Friday after an opening-round 79 but was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. Finau discovered the error after he had turned in his card ... Tony and Gipper ranked 1-2 in driving distance through the first two rounds of the tournament at over 339 yards ... Ben Bates made his 192nd career cut in a Nationwide Tour event, tying the record set by Steve Haskins.

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