Teater gets first Nationwide win by four shots at Utah Championship

SANDY, Utah -- Josh Teater earned his first victory as a professional with a dominating performance Sunday at the Utah Championship. He finished with a 68 to get to 20 under par, four shots better than Tyler Aldridge at 16 under and Andrew Buckle, Matt Jones, Steve Wheatcroft and John Kimbell at 15 under.

As he did in the third round, Teater didn't waste any time on Sunday, pushing his score further into red numbers. He started eagle-par-birdie to extend his one-stroke overnight lead to four. But he bogeyed No. 6 for the second day in a row and followed with two more on Nos. 8 and 9.

"The weather played a factor on the front nine," he said. "The wind was blowing a bit -- which we hadn't seen all week. I might have been a little greedy with my tee shot on eight that ended in the water. But I took my medicine and made a good bogey there."

Meanwhile Aldridge, five groups ahead, birdied three in a row to take a share of the lead at 17 under. But again, just as he did Saturday, Teater bounced right back with birdies on Nos. 10, 12 and 13 to get back to 20 under.

"When I got to the back nine, my thought was to give myself a chance at nine birdies and I did a pretty good job at that," he commented.

After parring the next three, Teater chipped in for eagle on the par-5 17th. Aldridge had stumbled down the stretch to close with two bogeys and Teater and arrived at the No. 18 with a six-shot lead. Although his tee shot found the water and he ended the day with a double-bogey 5, it was nonetheless a convincing display for his first win on any professional tour.

Teater is playing his rookie season on the Nationwide Tour. The 30-year-old from Lexington, Ky. is a former standout at Morehead State University. Since turning professional in 2002, he has played primarily on the mini-tour circuit. Before this week, he had made the cut in 12 of 20 events played and recorded two top-10s. His best finish was a solo second at the Christmas in October Classic in Kansas City, Mo., just over three weeks ago.

With this victory, Teater moves to eighth on the money list with $238,200 and is virtually locked to finish amongst the 25 leading money-winners who are awarded PGA Tour cards following the Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island in October.

"It's a great feeling," he acknowledged. "But you have to keep playing well to finish as high as possible in the 25 to get in as many tournaments as possible next year, so I'm going to keep my foot down and try to keep making birdies."

Teater joins Alistair Presnell, Derek Lamely and Troy Merritt as the fourth rookie winner on Tour in 2009.

The Nationwide Tour travels to Boise, Idaho, next week for the 20th playing of the Albertsons Boise Open.

Notebook: Playing in the same group, Jay Delsing and Daniel Summerhays both holed out for eagle on the 387-yard, par-4 14th hole. Delsing did it with 59-degree lob wedge from 32 yards and Summerhays with a 60-degree wedge from 25 yards.

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