BOISE, Idaho -- With the temperatures barely reaching the high 50s, Canadian John Mills shot a sizzling 7-under-par 64 Sunday to set the tournament scoring record at 21-under-par 263 for a three-stroke victory over D.A. Points at the Albertsons Boise Open presented by First Health. With his victory, Mills earned $121,500, moved to No. 5 on the money list, well within The 25, and has secured his PGA TOUR card for the 2008 season.
Mills was 6 under on his round as he approached the 13th tee box. As he waited on the tee, he couldn't help but notice that he had a three-stroke lead. The 29-year-old admitted that knowing he had the lead could have contributed to a wayward 5-iron on the 216-yard par-3 hole.
His shot wound up in a greenside bunker and resulted in his first bogey of the day. A bogey on the short 293-yard par-4 15th hole followed and suddenly Mills was tied for the lead.
"Making that second bogey probably helped me actually," Mills said. "After seeing that I had the three-stroke lead, I was a shocked and got distracted. Making the bogeys got me a little mad and helped me just re-focus on golf."
Mills came back with a drive down the center of the fairway on the par-5 16th. He followed with a 7-iron that landed 35-feet from the hole where he would drain his eagle putt.
A birdie from the rough on the 18th hole was the cushion that he need for his first Nationwide Tour victory since the 2005 Canadian PGA Championship. His final round of 7-under 64 matched the lowest round at this event by the tournament winner and also was the lowest round on Sunday by two strokes.
"It feels great. This is one of the biggest tournaments of the year out here," Mills said. "I feel like I have been so close for the last couple of months. It seemed like I was getting a lot of top-20, top-15 finishes, and not moving anywhere up the money list.
"I have been on the bubble of The 25 for a long time. Now I've got my PGA TOUR card locked in. I'm looking forward to getting back out there. My main focus can now be preparing my game for the PGA TOUR next year."
The win gives Mills $282,283 for the 2007 season. Indeed, Mills has played well as of late. Before this week, he had made the cut 10 of his last 11 events. During that stretch he had four top-10 finishes and eight tournaments in the top 20. Mills, who now lives in Indiana, Pa., played in this year's U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club just outside of Pittsburgh.
Mills who was one of the players that eventual winner Angel Cabrera knocked out of the tournament when his birdie putt on Friday moved the cut up one position. Mills said that getting a taste of what it is like to play in a major championship only makes him want to get back and play in another one sometime soon.
"It was my first major championship and I felt I played pretty well. I bogeyed the last four holes on Friday and then really thought I was going to make the cut," Mills said.
It looked as if Points would make a run on the final four holes after he chipped in on No. 15. Points put his second shot on the par-5 16th hole to within 15 feet. A two-putt from there left the 30-year-old University of Illinois graduate one stroke off the lead with two holes left to play.
Back-to-back bogeys on the final two holes meant no victory for Points, but finishing second alone paid him $72,900 and moved him to No. 29 on the money list.
"I was playing to win out there. I'm disappointed, but all the credit goes to Jon. A 64 on this golf course in these conditions on a Sunday is a great round," Points said. "I had a tricky putt on 17 that was over a ridge, through some shadows. The second putt I misread. I thought it broke right to left and I missed it right."
Final-Round News & Notes: The scoring average for this year's event finished at 69.820, a new tournament low. ... Mills three-stroke come-from-behind victory is the best at the Boise Open since Matt Gogel in 1996. ... The Nationwide Tour will take a break next week and will resume the following week at the Mark Christopher Charity Classic presented by The County of San Bernardino.
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