Australia’s Adam Crawford has jumped from 110 to 58 on the Web.com Tour Money List after recording the first runner-up finish of his Web.com career in Utah.
Crawford finished in a tie for second after posting rounds of 71-61-69-66 (-17), four strokes behind Washington native Andres Gonzales who won the Utah Championship.
Crawford made a valiant run on the final day trying to put pressure on Gonzales. He bogeyed the fourth hole and was even par on his round. He had six birdies to post a 66, his third consecutive round in the 60s after a 61 Friday and a 69 in the third round.
The Queenslander earned just over US$46,000 for the runner-up finish.
When Gonzales stepped to Willow Creek Country Club’s 18th green Sunday, he finally allowed himself to look at the leaderboard, something he hadn’t done all week. Caddie Brandon DeStefano urged Gonzales to take peek. “I saw I had a four-shot lead, so that kind of gave me goose bumps knowing I could do some stuff on the last green and win.”
Gonzales hit his tee shot on the par-3 18th above the hole and routinely two-putted. He pumped his fist as the crowd cheered, unaware that he became the only player in Web.com Tour history to go wire-to-wire to win two titles. Gonzales also led after every round of the 2012 Soboba Classic.
“I was a little more nervous here,” Gonzales said, comparing how he felt on the final day at both of his wins. “Soboba was the very beginning of the year. This is kind of getting down to crunch time, where we only have five tournaments left before the Playoffs start.”