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By Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

When you've played on the PGA TOUR for seven seasons as Franklin Langham has, you make no secret of your burning desire to return to The Big Show.

Franklin Langham preserved his victory in Utah with a brilliant up-and-down on the 72nd hole. (WireImage)

That was Langham's chief objective when the 2007 Nationwide Tour season began. But the 15-year veteran struggled so much with his game throughout the first half of the year he was beginning to think that his plans to play PGA TOUR in 2008 might be unattainable. And it might be necessary to red-line "graduation" on his things to-do list.

Until last week in Utah, that is. That's when a suddenly resurgent Langham took it deep over 72 holes and won the Utah EnergySolutions Classic with an unbeatable combination of solid ball striking, clear thinking and off-the-charts putting.

"Franklin played real solid coming down the stretch,'' runner-up Richard Johnson said, singing praise of the victor.

Actually Langham played spectacular golf for 72 holes as his 20-under-par total of 264 strongly suggests. That sort of aggregate score was only a Langham pipe dream not too long ago.

"I was a lost man with my swing,'' he admitted.

But now Langham is found. And his swing has been healed by painstaking work with Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, a pair of Philadelphia-based instructors who became golf's "it'' teachers late in 2006 when three of their pupils -- Dean Wilson, Will MacKenzie and Eric Axley -- became first-time winners on the PGA TOUR in a span of six mind-bending weeks.

Bennett and Plummer work unconventionally, imparting a method they refer to as the "stack and tilt.'' In short their geometry-based swing model has the player tilting dramatically to his left on the backswing, and then springing up through impact. Players who get beyond its radical look marvel at the pure strikes it produces.

Good friend Tom Scherrer encouraged Langham to seek the help of Bennett and Plummer after the long-time friends played a practice together in Knoxville in late June. Langham figured he had nothing to lose after missing eight of his first cuts with a best finish of tie for 37th in the season opener in Panama.

"I wasn't hitting it well and I wasn't getting any better when I worked at it,'' said Langham, 39, a former All-American at the University of Georgia and a member of the victorious Walker Cup team in 1991.

Trouble is the golf course is no place for trial and error. Yet Langham worked diligently and was given positive feedback almost instantaneously when he second to Scherrer in the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper.

"I knew I was headed in the right direction then,'' he said. "But making drastic swing changes like that is never easy when you're trying to compete. The best time to make them is during the off-season when it doesn't hurt if you spray a few.''

Langham did his share of spraying after the solo second. He missed the next two cuts, but hooked up again with Bennett when the Nationwide Tour made a stop in Rochester, N.Y., for the Xerox Classic. Once again the time spent pounding balls on the range employing his new moves paid handsome dividends. Langham made the cut on a tough Irondequoit Country Club track and then tied for 24th in the National Mining Association Pete Dye Classic.

More hard work followed during a Nationwide Tour off week and then Langham went to Utah where he scored the third Nationwide Tour victory in eight seasons. The $90,000 paycheck moved Langham 37 places on the money list into "The 25'' at 20th spot with $170,966, but he understands there is still some heavy lifting required before his PGA TOUR goal is achieved.

"This by no means solidifies anything,'' Langham said. "But it gives me a chance. That's all you can ask for out here. The rest is up to you.''

Six full field events and the Nationwide Tour Championship, where the top 60 on the money list earn invitations, remain in 2007. Langham is $18,000 and change ahead of this week's bubble boy, Jon Mills, who is 25th with $152,233.

"It may not seem like it but there is so much golf left,'' he said. "So much can happen in seven weeks it isn't funny.''

Yes but golf is fun again for Langham, who held it together after he hit a ball out of bounds on the first hole of the final round to give up his lead. But he fought back, trusting his new swing down the stretch and hitting the shots he needed to when tense moments arrived. And Langham had one other thing in his corner -- his putter.

Langham averaged 27 putts per round to lead the field. None was bigger than a 20-foot birdie putt that went in the side door on the 16th hole that provided him with a two-shot cushion.

"It was big for me this week,'' said Langham, who heads for this week's Oregon Classic presented by Kendall Automotive Group with a renewed game, a bagful of confidence and a chance to earn his way back to the PGA TOUR.