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Lehi • Because money is viewed mainly as a means of keeping score for golfers with ambitions of advancing to the PGA Tour, it becomes easy to forget that the oversized cardboard check presented to another Web.comTour winner every Sunday represents actual cash.
So while the $117,000 that Nicholas Lindheim earned for winning the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank considerably improves his status on the tour money list, it also is spendable. And that's a good thing for a professional golfer who loves the game and just wants to support his wife and 3-year-old daughter, regardless of where he's playing.
That's also why a potential life-changing win triggered a rather subdued response from Lindheim on the 18th green, after he tapped in for a meaningless bogey. The real celebration could wait until his return home to Florida in another week — although he hoped to persuade his wife to take a vacation from her work as an attorney and fly out for this week's event in the Bay Area.
Explaining his demeanor in victory, Lindheim said, "I'm not the fist-pumping type of guy."
He's not a conventional winner at this level of pro golf, period. Thanks to his closing 69 for a 15-under-par total and a two-stroke win over J.J. Spaun, Lindheim's name will be engraved below Patton Kizzire's on the Billy Casper Cup. Golfers with backgrounds like Kizzire's are the traditional champions of this tournament, not someone who tried several sports before launching into golf, which his parents figured was "just another thing" he would try and eventually drop.
They got on board with his pursuit of golf for a living "probably when I was old enough that they couldn't tell me I couldn't," Lindheim said, smiling. "I don't think they ever knew it would come this far."
During the Golf Channel telecast, a graphic showed the logos of colleges the leaders attended. Nothing was shown next to Lindheim, 31, who began moving toward toward a pro golf career after high school in southern California. And now he's about to become a PGA Tour member — although some work may remain for him between now and late August, when the first 25 cards are awarded for the 2016-17 schedule that starts in October.
Lindheim moved from 83rd to 14th on the money list with $153,694 — and the cutoff point is likely to be about $160,000. Sunday's earnings more than tripled his previously biggest checks for a third-place finish on this tour and a PGA Tour LatinoAmerica victory.
Spaun has clinched his card, standing No. 6 after his second runner-up finish in a month. "It's totally going to free me up for the rest of the year," he said.
Spaun applied some pressure to Lindheim. After trailing by four strokes with eight holes to play, he got within two before Lindheim hit a clutch 4-iron shot and birdied the par-3 No. 15. Spaun birdied No. 16, then each parred No. 17 and bogeyed No. 18.
Winning on this tour proved something to Lindheim about himself, among other people. "I just never really knew that I could do it," he said.
Afterward, Spaun told Lindheim, "No one could have beaten you today."
It would have taken someone extraordinary, that's for sure. Ollie Schniederjans owned the best credentials on the leaderboard, standing No. 3 on the money list and third in the tournament after three rounds. Erratic driving caught up to Schniederjans, and he faded to a 73 and a tie for sixth, although he moved to No. 2 on the money list.
Twitter: @tribkurt —
Utah Championship
At Thanksgiving Point GC
Final leaders
269 • Nicholas Lindheim (67-66-67-69)
271 • J.J. Spaun (68-68-65-70)
272 • Xander Schauffele (69-70-68-65)
273 • Austin Cook
(67-70-67-69)
274 • Sebastian Cappelen (69-71-67-67)