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Jon Mills Wins Canadian PGA Championship
Cambridge, ON (July 24, 2005) - It took Jon Mills a little longer to etch his name in the history books than he wanted Sunday, but the wait was more than worth it for the 27-year old Canadian. Playing on what amounted to home turf, the Ontario native waited out a pair of final-round rain delays and won the Canadian PGA Championship at Whistle Bear Golf Club.
Mills started the last day with a four-stroke lead that dwindled to two a couple of times, but his 1-under-par 71 was more than enough to handle the challengers and win the second-oldest professional tournament in his home country. His 19-under par total was three better than Ken Duke (68) and five better than Nick Cassini (67) and Erik Compton (68).
“It’s incredible, it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said Mills, who is coached by CPGA Member Dave Woods of Angus Glen GC. “I putted really well this week but then I felt like I did everything well. It seemed whatever club I needed to hit, I felt very comfortable over it.”
Mills was steady during a day that produced periodic rain and threats of lightning that halted play for a total 3:20 and stretched his round out to more than eight hours. Mills’ lead fell to two after Johnson made birdie at No. 1 and he made bogey at No. 4. That bogey was his only hiccup of the stop-and-start-and-stop-and-start day.
“I got off to a bit of a shaky start, but I really made a great par-save at No. 1,” said Mills, who rolled in a 10-footer to calm his nerves. “A couple of shots got away from me but I tried to stay patient. My goal was to stick to my game plan. It was successful for the first three days so there was no point in changing it.”
After a nearly two-hour delay following his bogey, Mills returned to the course and was solid on a day when he managed to hit only eight of 14 fairways. His first birdie came at the par-3, 8th where he cashed in from nine feet. Before he could tee off on No. 12, the horn blew again to halt play, this time for about 90 minutes.
“The thought (of winning) crept into my mind a few times during the day but I wanted to stop myself as quick as I could from thinking like that,” said Mills, who two-putted from 85 feet for birdie at the par-5, 12th upon his return. “Ken put a lot of pressure on me. I think I felt the momentum change in my favor with that one at 12.”
From there, Mills would cruise to the house with six consecutive pars.
“The weight came off my shoulders when I hit a good shot off the tee at 18,” he said.
Mills, who grew up about two hours away in Belleville, joins an elite list of countrymen like Stan Leonard, George Knudson, Moe Norman and Al Balding who have won some of the 92 previous CPGA championships contested.
His name is the next to be etched on the P. D. Ross trophy.
“There are a lot of big names and great Canadians on that trophy. Just being on the same list will be something,” said Mills. “It’s going to be awesome to see their names and then see mine alongside them.”
The win should propel Mills onto the PGA TOUR next year. The first-place check of $81,000 pushed his season total to $218,808 and moved him to No. 5 on the money list with 14 events left to go. The top-20 money winners at the end of the year will graduate to the TOUR in 2006.
Final Round News & Notes: Play was suspended twice during Sunday’s final round due to threatening conditions in the area. The first suspension was from 11:23 am to 1:15 pm and the second came from 3:02 pm to 4:30 pm…Sunday’s final-round scoring average was72.727. The scoring average for the week was 71.673...Ken Duke’s second-place finish matched his career-best, a runner-up at the 2003 Chitimacha Louisiana Open…Nick Cassini had six birdies on his final 9 holes to move into a tie for third place, making it his best finish since a runner-up effort at last year’s Pete Dye West Virginia Classic… Jerry Smith’s final-round 67 helped to a T6 finish, his 5th top-10 of the year. Smith’s payday of $15,637 was enough to jump him from No. 23 to No. 17 on the money list.
Canadian finishes: Carl Desjardins of Ste-Catherines, PQ, fired at 69 and finished at 10-under-278, good for a T-8 finish. Mike Mezei (72-70-69-72) of Lethbridge, ON, finished T33 with a 283 (-5).
Finishing behind Desjardins and Mezei are Ahmad Bateman (T-37) of Orlando, Fla., at four-under, Adam Short (T-45) of Vineland, ON, at 285 and Derek Gillespie (64th) of Oshawa, ON, shot a 75 today for an even-par 288 finish.
NOTE: Scores available on the Internet at pgatour.com or on the Associated Press Wire.
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