Tag: Hualalai

Steve Stricker wins 12th PGA Tour Champions title, plans for full schedule in 2023

“I still feel like there’s more to do and I can continue to play and play at a higher level,” said Stricker.

Steve Stricker is taking over the PGA Tour Champions.

The 55-year-old won his 12th Champions tour title – his fifth win in his last 11 starts – on Saturday after he eased his way to a six-shot win at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. Stricker finished at 23 under to beat out Steven Alker, Mike Weir, Ken Tanigawa and Darren Clarke, who all finished T-2 at 17 under.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Stricker. “To win here, I didn’t know what kind of game I had coming into this week, but it was pretty good.”

Stricker began the final round with a two-shot lead and proceeded to make three birdies in his opening four holes. Two more birdies on Nos. 10 and 13 as well as an eagle on the par-5 14th led Stricker to his 12th win in just over five seasons on the senior circuit.

Stricker shot a 12-under 60 during Friday’s second round to become the just second player shoot 60 or better on both the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, joining Paul Goydos. Stricker shot an opening-round 60 at the 2010 John Deere Classic, the same day Goydos signed for a 59. Goydos shot 60 in the second round of the 2017 3M Championship on the Champions tour.

Also a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour, Stricker has now won a quarter of his starts on the PGA Tour Champions.

“You know, I saw that stat somewhere along the way. I feel lucky and blessed to be able to be doing this still, especially where I came from a year ago,” said Stricker, referencing a nasty illness that saw him lose nearly 30 pounds. “It’s still a lot of fun. I still put in the time, I put in the effort. I’ve got a great support system in my wife and kids love to see me play, and Mario helps when he’s not playing. You know, everybody that’s with me is so supportive; my family, my parents I should say and my in-laws. It still keeps going, I still feel like there’s more to do and I can continue to play and play at a higher level. So it’s exciting for me still to come out here and play.”

Stricker plans to “play a pretty full schedule” this season and wants to continue to play a few PGA Tour events as well, such as the John Deere Classic, where he’s a three-time winner.

The Champions tour is back in action Feb. 9-11 with the Trophy Hassan II in Morocco and returns to the states the following week with the Chubb Classic, Feb. 17-19, at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01f5k5vfbhv59szck1 image=]

The diet can wait – Ernie Els feasts on Hualalai and takes lead at Champions event in Hawaii

Els sits at 8 under with Vijay Singh a stroke behind.

Call it the feast before the purge.

Insisting he needs to shed a few pounds in the near future, Ernie Els found Hualalai Country Club pretty tasty during Thursday’s opening round of the PGA Tour Champions’ season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii.

Els played bogey-free golf in the opening round and made an eagle on No. 15 and a birdie on the closing hole to jump to the top of a star-studded leaderboard.

How did Els handle his holiday break?

“You know what, I just took a rest,” he said. “I need to lose about 10 pounds, but I’m sure we can do that in the next couple weeks. I played with the guys, kept myself sharp, played a lot of golf, social golf at Turtle Creek and places around town (in South Florida), Bear Lakes.

“It’s just a great feeling coming out here. Just want to let it go out here, so it’s a good feeling to be out here.”

Els sits at 8 under while Vijay Singh is a stroke behind. The quintet of Retief Goosen, Bernhard Langer, Darren Clarke, Stephen Ames and Steven Alker was lurking at 6 under.

For Els, who already has a pair of Champions Tour titles in his trophy case, any chance to play in Hawaii is special.

“I love it out here. We were close to living out here or buying another home out here many, many times. Might still happen, but it’s a great feeling to come here,” he said. “The people are just so unbelievable. This resort, Four Seasons here, it’s just unbelievable. It’s something you can get used to very quickly.”

The three-day event plays its final round Saturday.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

David Duval makes PGA Tour Champions debut at this week’s season opener in Hawaii

The former World No. 1 has high expectations for senior golf but plans to give himself time to get back into the swing of tournament golf.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

David Duval has never minced words, and on the eve of starting a new chapter in his professional life, he’s not about to change.

“I expect to succeed,” he said of his first foray into the PGA Tour Champions at this week’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Club in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

The Jacksonville native and Episcopal graduate, who won 13 times on the PGA Tour and for most of the 1999 season supplanted Tiger Woods at No. 1 in the world, turned 50 years old Nov. 9.

While he hasn’t made a cut on the PGA Tour since the 2015 British Open at St. Andrews, Duval pointed out that he certainly has enough tread left on the tires.

“I haven’t played 50 golf tournaments in the last decade and so I’m patient and giving myself time to get my feet under myself again,” he said in a video posted on the PGA Tour Champions Twitter site. “My wife Susie and I are so excited about the opportunity and so looking forward to it.”

David Duval with the claret jug after victory in the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in England. (Stephen Munday/ALLSPORT)

Duval won all of his Tour events between 1997 and 2001, including the 1999 Players, the 1997 Tour Championship and the 2001 British Open. He won four times in 1998 and captured the Tour’s scoring and money titles.

He became the first player to shoot 59 in the final round of a tournament to win, at the 1999 American Express.

Duval was the runner-up in the Masters twice and had 11 top-10s in majors. But he went into a prolonged slump beginning in 2002, brought on by a series of injuries from neck to knee.

Duval’s main problem used to be his strength: the best combination of long and accurate off the tee. There were a few times when it appeared he might have regained his old touch, such as a tie for second in the 2009 U.S. Open and a tie for second at Pebble Beach in 2010.

But since his last made cut, Duval hasn’t played on the weekend in 22 starts in six years, counting two appearances in a Korn Ferry Tour event near his Denver home.

Duval has always seemed at peace. He took on three stepchildren when he married his wife, and they had two more children. He also combined family with his last big moment on the golf course, winning the 2016 PNC Father-Son with stepson Nick Karavites.

David Duval has spent much of the past decade as an analyst for NBC and Golf Channel. (Cy Cyr/PGA Tour)

Duval has been an analyst for Golf Channel, drawing good reviews for his insight and preparedness.

He’s also been working on his game, but not putting any pressure on himself.

“I’ve been practicing and playing and working at it,” he said in the PGA Tour Champions interview. “Getting over some little injury problems I’ve had over the past couple of years. That’s all behind me now. But I’m sure there were will be some nerves and anxiety and rust.”

Also in the field this week is Jim Furyk—who shot a 62 in the opening round of the Sony Open in Hawaii on the PGA Tour last week while playing on a sponsor exemption— as well as last season’s Charles Schwab Cup winner Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Mark O’Meara, Vijay Singh and defending champion Darren Clarke.

The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai is a 54-hole event. It’s the first of 28 events on the PGA Tour Champions schedule in 2022 that will span 20 states and three countries. A record $62 million in prize money will be up for grabs. Each event will be televised on Golf Channel, with three scheduled for weekend coverage on NBC: the Senior PGA Championship, the Senior Open Championship and the U.S. Senior Open.

[listicle id=778101266]

Darren Clarke wins in Hawaii in first event of 2021 on PGA Tour Champions

Darren Clarke ended a nine-year victory drought last November. Now, he’s won two straight on the PGA Tour Champions.

Darren Clarke made his debut in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship on the PGA Tour Champions this year and took to the course right away, posting a 63 in Thursday’s opening round at Hualalai Golf Course in Hawaii.

He was really good in Saturday’s final round, too, torching the back nine with six birdies en route to a 64. He stuffed his approach on 16 to about two feet, setting up a birdie, and then drained a 50-foot putt on 17 for another birdie which opened up a two-shot lead over Retief Goosen.

When Goosen later parred the 18th hole, Clarke could cruise home. He tapped in for par on the last to win by two shots.

Mitsubishi Electric Championship: Leaderboard

Clarke’s win last November in the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida, was his first anywhere since the 2011 Open Championship. But visa issues meant he had to be out the U.S. three days later so was unable to travel to the Phoenix Country Club for the final event of 2020, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

So Clarke went home for the holidays for an extended break and now, after that nine-year victory drought, has two wins in his last two starts.

Bernhard Langer finished tied for 17th and maintains his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup points race. Miguel Angel Jimenez, the event’s defending champion, finished tied for 17th. Hale Irwin, who made his 25th start at Hualalai, finished last in the 42-man field.

The PGA Tour Champions kicked off the 2021 portion of its schedule at the Four Seasons Resort along the Kona-Kohala coast. The 24-year-old Jack Nicklaus-designed course recently underwent a significant renovation but the venue kept a streak alive: Hualalai became the first course to host a Champions event 25 consecutive years.

[lawrence-related id=778085082,778085079,778085092]