Instead, he sat in a cart near the 18th hole, which he had just eagled, with his son and his minus-16 score. When Collins putted in his birdie Tidland emerged, looking more relieved than ecstatic.
It was Tidland's 20-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th that broke a tie with Collins and Dave Schultz and gave Tidland a minus-6, 65 for the round. Collins and Schultz each birdied No. 18 to finish in a tied for second at minus-15.
Tidland, who has played professionally since 1994 with two seasons on the PGA Tour, won his second career Nationwide event and vaulted to second on the money list; the top 25 move on to the PGA next season. He entered Sunday six strokes behind third-round leader Jhonnatan Vegas at minus-10.
"I knew walking up to the green at 18 (that I was tied for the lead)," Tidland said. "I asked my caddie — I always have him check the scoreboard, and I don't look. I'm too busy with my own game — that takes a lot of the attention."
Vegas, a 24-year-old rookie from Venezuela who had at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds, appeared untouchable entering the final 18 holes. Vegas, at minus-16, had a two-stroke lead over final-round playing partner Collins entering Sunday.
But Vegas' round began to unravel early as he took a double bogey on No. 1. He recovered, but then made a disappointing par on No. 7 and hit his tee-shot on the Par-3 No. 8 into the water for the second straight day, taking a bogey to lose the lead for good.
That left others room to make a charge, and it appeared even Steven Taylor, who shot an early 64 to finish at minus-13, would be a name to remember. Schultz made a late run, making birdie on No. 16 to join the leaders at minus-14.
Tidland continued to lurk, however, with a steady, bogey-free round. His dramatic final shot was set up by a birdie at No. 14 that got him to minus-14.
"I had a buddy who called me last night who said, 'Hey, it looks like you might be playing for second — (Vegas) is way out in front,' " Tidland said. "So that kind of made me a little mad. I knew with a solid round anything could happen out here."
Tidland hit a near-perfect second shot from the fairway to the green on No. 18, a hole on which many players reached the green in two strokes. He was left with a 20-foot putt from in front of the hole that, even though eagle is an attainable score on No. 18, would likely win him the tournament. It did.
"That's the position you want to be in," Tidland said. "I love to be in that position. I made a putt to get into a playoff earlier this yea, though unfortunately I lost the playoff. But I made a nice putt and I kind of thought about that when I was over it. Let's just hit a solid putt and see what happens."
Schultz got the first chance to tie Tidland, as he reached the green in two on No. 18. He was left with a slightly longer putt than Tidland's from left of the cup. His putt slid just to the left of the hole.
"It was good speed, it just didn't break, very simply," Schultz said. "I'm not going to leave an opportunity like that short, so I hit it a little past the hole."
Collins took control of the drivers seat after Vegas' poor start and had his best chance for momentum after No. 7. He chipped in for birdie on that hole after hitting his first shot in the rough and second in the sand, but it didn't give him the spark he needed.
Collins couldn't eclipse the minus-14 mark until his birdie on No. 18. He missed the green on his fairway shot and couldn't convert the tying chip.
"It was a little surprising that guys came from behind and played that well," Collins said. "I maybe played a little more conservative than in previous days, but I gave myself a lot of looks. They just weren't very close looks."
Tidland, who had never finished better than 30th in nine previous Wichita Open appearances, made the most of his looks. He also conquered the final round for the first time this season. Tidland's Sunday scoring average of more than 71 was 94th on tour, but he found his best Sunday of the season in Wichita
"I made some 10-, 12-footers for par that were huge to kind of keep the momentum going," Tidland said. "The hole has gotten awful small for me most Sundays this year, but today it opened up big." |
