Mauricio Molina Scores 1st Pro Victory in 25 Years

Molina shot a bogey-free 68 to capture the Costa Rica Classic by three strokes Sunday and will head home for Christmas with a cheque for US$20,000 and a two year exemption on the Canadian Tour.

"I've been playing here for many years and a win didn't come my way until now, so I'm extremely happy," said Molina, his voice cracking with emotion. "I truly put all my heart into winning this one,"

"It's great to have the opportunity to play in Canada and hopefully I'll take advantage of it,"

Molina finished at nine under par 275, three strokes ahead of third-round leader Rob Grube who closed with a 72.

American Robert Gates grabbed solo third at 279 after a closing 69, one stroke ahead of Argentine Sebastian Saavedra who shot a final round 66.

Sharing fifth spot at three under par 281 are Paulo Pinto (70), Byron Smith (71) and Canadian Chris Baryla of Vernon, BC, who shot 70 after making an early charge with four birdies.

Clark Burroughs (69) and Hugo Leon (72) finished T-8 at two under 282.

Molina secured the win by out-dueling Grube, who had started the day leading by one. Grube seemed to have things in hand until back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13 opened the door to the Argentine, who scored a timely birdie at 14 to open a two-stroke lead.

"I stayed attached to my strategy. He was the one forced to take risks after those two bogeys," said Molina. "He (Grube) got to within one at 16, but made a mistake on 17 to run out of chances."

The Canadian Tour will shut down now until March 16, 2009 and the Florida Winter Qualifying School in Brooksville, followed March 23 by the California Q-School in San Diego.

The Tour picks up again in Modesto, CA in April before heading to Mexico for four events, then returns to Canada for a pair of events in British Columbia, the $200,000 Time Colonist Open June 1 followed by the inaugural $150,000 City of Surrey Invitational June 8.

$125,000US Costa Rica Classic
Reserva Conchal Golf Club
6,956 yards, par-71

1 - Mauricio Molina, $20,000 71-65-71-68-----275
2 - Rob Grube, $12,000 66-74-66-72-----278
3 - Robert Gates, $7,500 69-71-70-69-----279
4 - Sebastian Saavedra, $6,000 67-72-75-66-----280
T5 - Byron Smith, $4,541.66 72-69-69-71-----281
T5 - Paulo Pinto, $4,541.66 73-68-70-70-----281
T5 - Chris Baryla, $4,541.66 67-74-70-70-----281
T8 - Clark Burroughs, $3,750 69-70-74-69-----282
T8 - Hugo Leon, $3,750 71-70-69-72-----282
T10 - Josh McCumber, $3,250 69-74-71-70-----284
T10 - Diego Larrazabal, $3,250 69-69-71-75-----284
T12 - Jon McLean, $2,625 75-71-70-69-----285
T12 - Ramon Bescansa, $2,625 71-71-73-70-----285
T12 - Stuart Anderson, $2,625 72-70-73-70-----285
15 - Erik Compton, $2,125 73-76-70-69-----288
T16 - Matt Johnston, $1,937.50 72-70-75-72-----289
T16 - Lucas Lee, $1,937.50 70-71-76-72-----289
TT18 - Rafael Ponce, $1,609.25 71-71-76-72-----290
T18 - Victor Ciesielski, $1,609.25 72-74-69-75-----290
T18 - Brian Benedictson, $1,609.25 77-67-72-74-----290
T18 - Kris Wasylowich, $1,609.25 68-74-78-70-----290
T22 - Christoph Guenther, $1,238.87 70-72-70-79-----291
T22 - Mitch Gillis, $1,238.87 73-66-76-76-----291
T22 - Richard Gilkey, $1,238.87 74-70-75-72-----291
T22 - Chris Wall, $1,238.87 74-74-72-71-----291
T22 - Clodomiro Carranza, $1,238.87 74-77-70-70-----291
T22 - Alvaro Ortiz (a) 76-74-72-69-----291
T22 - Fernando Figueroa, $1,238.87 70-79-70-72-----291
T22 - Hoyt McGarity, $1,238.87 72-76-70-73-----291
T22 - Martin Ureta, $1,238.87 67-75-76-73-----291
Luciano Dodda, $1,001.66 69-75-76-72-----292
Bryan Novoa, $1,001.66 70-76-76-70-----292
Marcel Haremza, $1,001.66 69-74-72-77-----292
Alex Coe, $921.50 70-76-72-75-----293
Jim Seki, $921.50 73-74-77-69-----293
Ben McClung, $859 70-74-72-78-----294
Pierre Relecom, $859 78-73-69-74-----294
Stephen Reed, $796.50 71-76-73-75-----295
Rafael Gomez, $796.50 73-73-71-78-----295
Vince Covello, $718.33 75-66-77-79-----297
Otto Solis, $718.33 75-74-73-75-----297
Alan Wagner, $718.33 83-68-70-76-----297
Charles Wyatt, $627 76-75-72-75-----298
Victor Leoni, $627 73-74-77-74-----298
Kent Fukushima, $627 72-74-79-73-----298
Todd Halpen, $552.75 71-76-79-73-----299
Luis Graf, $552.75 75-71-75-78-----299
Denis Meneghini, $552.75 72-77-72-78-----299
Daniel Escalera , $552.75 68-78-75-78-----299
Alejandro Duque, $499.66 76-75-77-72-----300
Andrew Jensen, $499.66 76-74-76-74-----300
Clayton Gamber, $499.66 72-78-72-78-----300
Sebastian Salem, 475 77-70-78-76-----301
Edgar Gomez, $456 73-80-78-72-----303
Ramon Herrero (a) 78-75-74-76-----303
Dale Vallely, $456 74-77-74-78-----303
Eric West, $440 76-71-80-77-----304
Rami Asayag, $430 75-78-76-76-----305
Brandon Lawson, $420 82-71-73-80-----306
James Muir, $410 77-73-78-80-----308
Juan Marin, $400 74-73-85-77-----309
Gerardo Loroima, $300 79-74-83-85-----321
Peter Laws, $300 81-72-DQ