Ex-UNLV golfer enjoys Kodak moment

The final PGA Tour event of the 2011 season was perhaps aptly named -- the Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals Classic.

Because it was going to take a miracle on the golf course to deny Bill Lunde $1 million for winning the Kodak Challenge.

Lunde, who helped UNLV win the 1998 national championship, had a two-shot lead in the competition and watched Cameron Tringale and Fabian Gomez try in vain to catch him Sunday, at the last stop in the 30-hole, winner-take-all competition.

The competition consists of 30 PGA Tour holes -- one at each of 30 tournaments throughout the season. The player with the lowest score on his best 18 Kodak Challenge holes wins the $1 million.

Tringale and Gomez needed to make eagle at the 485-yard, par-4 No. 17 at the Magnolia Course at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. When they didn't, Lunde's 19-under-par score padded his bank account.

"I'm just very relieved it's over and I don't have to worry about it anymore," said Lunde, who lives in Las Vegas. "We've been looking at new houses, and this will make an easier decision."

Lunde missed the cut Friday, so he and his wife, Dana, decided to play tourist and visit Disney World on Saturday.

"But I was checking my phone when Cameron was playing (No.) 17. And when I looked at my phone again (Sunday) and watched Cameron again, I'm like, 'This is meant to be.' "

Lunde, 35, had been leading the competition since March. His eagle at the par-5 16th at TPC Summerlin on Oct. 1, during the third round of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, got him to 19 under and all but locked up the title. Lunde played two other events in the Fall Series, and though he didn't extend his lead, no one was able to catch him, either.

"When I look back on it, more than anything, I think it was kind of cool to be able to make the birdies and make eagles when I needed it the most," Lunde said.

Lunde, who enjoys exempt status on the tour through 2012, finished the 2011 season No. 130 on the money list, with $639,548. He said the Kodak Challenge pressure was different because it was about performing well for one hole, compared to 18 during a tournament.

"Being able to focus and play a hole you absolutely have to have is something I've been doing for the last couple of months," he said. "It's still about being able to play well when it counts the most.

"I didn't play all that badly this year on tour. I just didn't finish up on the weekend as well as I would have liked. But winning this definitely takes a little edge off of things."

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter @stevecarprj.