FARMINGTON—Nothing is sweeter than making things right the second time around. Just ask Joshua Creel, the 31-year-old golfer from Cheyenne, Wyoming who returned to Oakridge Country Club in Farmington this past weekend to accomplish something he should have and could have done two years ago – win the Utah Championship tournament on the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour.

“I’ve got some pretty good memories here; just one bad one that I think about daily,” he said in an interview after day one of this year’s tournament. That memory was in 2019, when he lost a playoff to Kris Ventura after making bogey from eight feet on No. 18 on the first playoff hole. Ventura eventually won with a par on the next hole, No. 10, forcing Creel to think about what could have been on that 600 yard walk back to the clubhouse.

This year’s tourney started hot for Creel, who shot a 63 in round one and was in the hunt the rest of the weekend with four others who are close to getting onto the regular PGA Tour. Entering Sunday’s final round, Creel was in a battle with Peter Uihlein, who has played in several regular tour events this year, and both Taylor Montgomery and Hayden Buckley. For a while, it looked like a four or even five-person playoff might be coming, with those four pros also being chased by Eric Cole, son of retired professionals Bobby Cole and Laura Baugh.

As they headed onto the back nine on Sunday, Uihlein and Montgomery were in front, with both Creel and Buckley nipping at their heels. Buckley would end up shooting a final round 61, which tied the Oakridge course record, but finished in a three-way tie for second with Uihlein and Montgomery. Cole was just one shot behind until he ran into some bad luck on No. 16. His drive hit the cart path, went into the rough and forced him to punch out into the fairway. He ended up with a double bogey, and then another bogey on 18 dropped him to 18 under and into a tie for 13th.

Creel, playing one group ahead of Uihlein and Montgomery, took the lead after he birdied 15 to move to 23 under par. He held that one shot lead as he came to No. 18, the site of his 2019 debacle. But history would not repeat itself. Even as Uihlein and a fast-finishing Montgomery were hanging close and just one shot back, Creel wedged his second shot onto the green, then sank a 30-foot birdie putt to clinch the title, erase the memories and earn the $108,000 first-place check.

“I’m pumped,” a very excited Creel said, even long after the trophy and check presentation on the 18th green. “It was pretty disappointing to lose in a playoff. That feeling of walking from the green back up to the tee after losing is a feeling you don’t want ever.”

His mother Brenda, who flew into Utah on Friday night, was among the first to greet him as he came off the 18th green, the victory all but assured until Uihlein and Montgomery finished moments later and ended up 22 under, two shots back. 

“It was so exciting to be here to see this,” she said. “He’s worked so hard and of course wanted to erase the memory of what happened here before.” She said they had breakfasts at Cracker Barrel both Saturday and Sunday, and following a lot of posing for photos after the awards were presented, Brenda was busy making video calls to family and friends back home.

“I’m glad she was out here to watch me get my first Korn Ferry Tour win,” Creel said. He said his wife, who is pregnant and due in January, stayed home, but “I know she was watching online and cheering the whole way.”

This year’s event included lots of spectators – probably not as large as the numbers from 2019 when local favorite Daniel Summerhays was in the hunt before finishing 6th. Last year the grandstand and fans were non-existent due to the COVID-19, and Summerhays tied for first before losing in a three-way playoff. At this year’s tournament, both Summerhays and former BYU golfer Rhett Rasmussen missed the cut, finishing at 2-under. Another former Cougar, Patrick Fishburn, who played in this event for the first time in 2019 on a sponsor exemption, finished at 14 under and tied for 35th.

The victory was a long time coming for Creel and his family. He turned professional in 2012 following a four-year collegiate career split between University of Colorado (two seasons) and University of Central Oklahoma (two seasons). Creel was a two-time All-American for Central Oklahoma and won the individual national title at the 2012 NCAA Division II Championships. From the time he turned professional through the end of 2018, though, Creel bounced between the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada, the Korn Ferry Tour, and mini-tours.

  Sunday’s victory took Creel from 64th to 32nd in the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour points standings, giving him a chance to finish in the top 25 and earn a PGA TOUR card with a second consecutive podium finish. Creel said he planned to head home to Oklahoma City and spend a day with his wife, then hop in his truck and make the 6.5-hour drive to Omaha for this weekend’s season finale on the Korn Ferry Tour. After that, the future is wide open for his continued success.

The Farmington event was the 42nd stop on Korn Ferry’s wrap-around 43 event season, extended because of the pandemic. Next year’s schedule will be much shorter, and the Utah Championship is locked in to Oakridge at least through 2023.