Lunde's new head game producing quick results

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Another week, another PGA TOUR ticket punched on the Nationwide Tour.

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Bill Lunde found out desk jobs were not for him.

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Lunde wins in Ohio
Video: Chip-in sealed win
Stats: Lunde's scorecard
More: Lunde's transcript

On Sunday, Bill Lunde did the honors in a spectacular fashion, chipping in from 30 feet for an all's-well-that-ends-well birdie on the 72nd hole and a one-shot victory over Dustin Bray in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational.

A check for $135,000 accompanied the most significant triumph in Lunde's heretofore checkered pro career, giving him more than enough cash ($242,911 to rank seventh among 'THE 25') to guarantee a role in The Big Show in 2009. Lunde follows Rick Price (Nationwide Tour Players Cup) and Colt Knost (Price Cutter Charity Championship Presented by Dr. Pepper) in locking up their '09 playing privileges in the last three events.

"This is a huge step for me,'' said Lunde, 32, whose resume' highlight was a modicum of success on the Harmon Tour prior to Sunday. "To win on this Tour . . . this is a much stronger tour. The players are better. This tells me I have to ability.''

There was a time when Lunde surely wondered aloud if he did. Nagged by self-doubt, he questioned whether his game measured up to such exacting standards. This while just going through the motions without devoting time and energy to improving. It seemed as if the fire in his belly was doused with some flame retardant material.

Lunde reached a crossroads late in 2005 after playing without passion in the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. Naturally, he failed and came to a conclusion he was spinning his wheel after he had very little to show for participating in 47 Nationwide Tour events and the 2003 United States Open. Compounding the matter was the fact that golf wasn't much fun anymore.

So Lunde, the captain of the 1998 NCAA national champion UNLV golf team, went one way and his professional golf career went the other. He swapped day jobs, entering the 9-to-5 work force with the Las Vegas Founders, the group handles the daily operations of the city's PGA TOUR event. Ten months later he was working for a Las Vegas title company, where a friend was a vice-president.

Meanwhile some of Lunde's closest friends, knowing full well he wasn't cut out for pushing a pencil while sitting behind a desk, were giving him the business. They'd call while he was at work and inquire about what he was doing. The answer invariably was "in the office'' and it produces howls of laughter.

"It was kind of weird,'' Lunde said, admitting what his friends knew all along.

A downturn in the housing market soon followed. Lunde's friend mentioned the possibility of cut backs, where last in, first out carries more significance than it does in Nationwide Tour weekend pairings. When Lunde realized he was a goner golf suddenly became an option.

This time, though, Lunde decided not to let the game drag him down. He decided he needed a positive attitude and was determined not to over-club himself mentally while be more accepting of the misses that even the best of swings inevitably produce.

The comeback started in May of 2007. Lunde made his way to the Butch Harmon Vegas Tour. Feedback was as immediate as it was positive. He won his first event, building confidence that carried him to the finals of the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, where he missed making it to The Big Show by two strokes but earned an exemption on the Nationwide Tour.

Again feedback was immediate and positive early in 2008. Lunde finished solo fifth at the season-opening Movistar Panama Classic and followed with a tie for 11th at the Mexico Open presented by Corona. Lunde still had his bad patches, missing three cuts once and three out of four coming into the Children's Hospital Invitational.

The difference was Lunde accepted the failures. He knew his game was solid, that he was as far off as the results might have indicated. And he understood things could turn around in a heartbeat, the very minute Dame Fortune smiled upon him.

"There's such a fine line in the game at this level,'' he said, spouting a sentence that served as his mantra. "I was hitting it pretty good, but the putts weren't going in. I never felt like I was struggling.''

What's more, Lunde was battling until the bitter end, until the last putt dropped. And it didn't matter if it was Friday or Sunday.

Sure enough, when the putts -- and an extremely timely chip shot -- started falling, Lunde walked into the winner's circle, turning the last 15 months into a joyride that is guaranteed to last through 2009. Now he has new goals to chase, including the top spot on the Nationwide Tour money list.

"I'm going to keep trying to climb the money list,'' he said. "Being No. 1 is a big deal. You get a full exemption and a spot in the field of THE PLAYERS Championship. That's certainly something to shoot for.''

Lunde can now because he's playing a different game -- in his head.

"I was too hard on myself,'' he said, pointing to the reason for his previous failure. "There was no hiding it. It was a continuous thing. Now I'm much more positive. I'm playing more relaxed, thinking about the next shot and, if need be, next week.''

Lunde has something else to dwell on the next time he makes a bad swing. That's next year.