KONA, Hawaii — Miller Brady points out in the distance at the Pacific Ocean as another stunning sunset unfolds and says, “Look, there’s a whale spout. It’s right in line with that palm tree.”
It never gets old for Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions, to start the new season at Four Seasons Hualalai, home of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. This is the 28th consecutive year the senior circuit has kicked off the year here in paradise and the 17th in a row for Brady, who is in his sixth year leading the Champions Tour and embarking on his 25th year with the PGA Tour, the last 18 with the over-50 crowd.
“I had the chance to go to the regular tour a couple different times,” he said. “But I just sort of like this niche.”
It’s a niche playing for some $67 million this season, and its top players don’t need signature events or bloated FedEx Cup points to show up. A couple hours later, nearly all the stars of senior golf will attend the pro-am draw party and make their way to the stage when emcee Dave Marr III calls their name.
“It’s one of the coolest pictures you’ll see,” Brady said.
During a wide-ranging conversation, Brady shared why he’s bullish on the future for PGA Tour Champions, the back story on the change in title sponsor for one of its three playoff events and prepping for Tigermania at 50.
This will be the 45th year for the PGA Tour Champions.
Time flies.
It’s already been a month since Bernhard Langer and son Jason captured the silly season’s PNC Championship.
This week, Langer and the PGA Tour Champions are back in action.
Langer, the ageless wonder, is among the 42 golfers in the field at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Hawaii.
“One of the great traditions on PGA Tour Champions is starting each year on the Island of Hawaii at this one-of-a-kind setting,” said PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady. This marks the 28th straight year the circuit started at Hualalai. “We are proud to continue our partnership with Mitsubishi Electric as we kick off the 2024 season.”
This will be the 45th year for the PGA Tour Champions. Here are some of the key storylines for 2024.
Making a hole-in-one is an impressive feat. Doing it in 35-plus mile-per-hour winds? Even moreso.
That’s what Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion and 2024 International team Presidents Cup captain, did Tuesday during a practice round ahead of the PGA Tour Champions season-opening event in Hawaii.
Playing in a pro-am at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Course, Weir landed his tee shot on the green on the par-3 17th hole and then watched as the wind assisted in pushing his ball closer and closer to the hole before it dropped in the cup.
Weir got married in mid-November during the Champions tour offseason to Michelle Money, who was a contestant on The Bachelor. He has one win on the over-50 circuit.
“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.
“You need to look after that thing because that’s where the money is.”
Sure, it might make for the best social media moments, but losing your temper on the golf course will likely keep you from putting success. At least that’s according to two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who is playing this week at the PGA Tour Champions’ Mitsubishi Electric Classic.
Goosen was asked after his second round at TPC Sugarloaf if his calm demeanor and his impressive putting go hand-in-hand.
“Definitely,” he responded. “Golf, the more you can stay at the same level and not have too many ups and downs in temperament and emotions, the better it is for your game. You’ve got four hours there that you’ve got to hit hopefully 65 shots and those 65 shots only take a few minutes, and what do you do with the other three and a half hours? Walking on the course, you need to stay in focus, you need to calm yourself down.
“All that kind of stuff breathes into your game, how your emotions are between shots. If you’re cursing everything and coming to the ball for the next shot, you’re probably not going to hit a good shot because you’re not mentally ready to hit it. It’s important how you manage your emotions on the golf course to stay consistent.”
Goosen, who has seven victories on the PGA Tour to go with twice as many on the European Tour, said he’s maintained the same putting technique through the years, one that has served him particularly well.
“I’m pretty much still the same. I tried a little bit with the long putter and the belly putter. Who didn’t? But you always seem to go back to what you did when you played your best golf and made all the putts. Just got to find the confidence again and the belief that you can putt well again. Putting is very much a feel game, there’s no strength or anything involved. Some players lose their feel and you’re not quite sure how hard to hit it or … your eyes go a little bit. As you get older, you don’t see the lines as clearly as you used to see it.
Retief Goosen (RSA) prepares for a putt on the first hole during the first round of the Chubb Classic, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, at Tiburón Golf Club at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla.
“Putting is very much, can I say, a personal thing. You’ve just got to find something that works for you to hit the ball online. It doesn’t matter how you stand or how you hold the putter as long as you can start it online and at the right speed. Speed is probably the most important thing.”
Even though he’s now 53 years old, the Pietersburg, South Africa, native still can get it rolling. On Saturday, for example, he birdied four of his first five holes to climb near the top of the leaderboard on a course where he captured his second PGA Tour win (at the BellSouth Classic in 2022). He finished with a pair of bogeys, but still shot a 67, and sits at 3 under for the tournament.
And while others are prone to tinkering with their putters, Goosen insists familiarity has helped to breed success.
“I use the same putter. I don’t often change putters,” Goosen said. “I won a lot of my tournaments with a putter or two, two putters or so. Even now I’m still putting with a putter that I’ve used for a while. I think, yeah, changing putters constantly is not a good thing. You’ve got to get a putter that you like and then try and stick with it even during the times when you go a little off. It will come back, but once you start just swapping out putters every week, it’s difficult to get a feel for it and putting is feel.”
That recipe keeps producing something delicious. Goosen is fifth on the PGA Tour Champions in putting average this season and that’s translated to five top-6 finishes in his seven Champions starts.
Of course, he can occasionally have frustrating spells with the flat stick, but he feels the attachment a player builds with his putter needs to be one that creates trust. Almost akin to a marriage.
“Well, I’ve had my times that I toss it a little bit and kick it a little bit. You get back in your hotel room in the evening, you bang your head against … why did I not hit a good putt there?” he said. “A putter, it needs to become your second wife. You need to look after that thing because that’s where the money is. It doesn’t matter how good you hit the ball; if you can’t make the putt, it’s useless.”
Miguel Angel Jiménez lit his victory cigar once again.
Miguel Angel Jiménez lit his victory cigar once again.
In the final round of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai with a Saturday finish, Jiménez edged Steven Alker on the second playoff hole in the PGA Tour Champions 2022 season opener.
Jiménez birdied the 18th hole to force the bonus golf then made par each time they replayed the 18th in the playoff, as Alker bogeyed it the second time through.
“It’s a nice way to start a season,” said Jiménez, who has won this event two times before. “It’s nice to be here, winning again in Hualalai. The golf course, I like it very much. The golf course is set up in beautiful condition this year.”
Bernhard Langer is the only other three-time winner of the tournament. Jiménez now has 11 Champions tour victories.
Alker had a birdie try on the first playoff hole that would have won it but he missed. “It was fun to get in position and have a chance,” he said.
Vijay Singh and Stephen Ames finished tied for third. David Toms was solo fifth. Ernie Els, who led after the second round, shot a 70 and ended up in a tie for sixth with Retief Goosen.
David Duval, making his Champions tour debut after turning 50 last November, shot a 72 Sunday and tied for 34th.
The Mitsubishi is a winners-only event from the previous season but this time around, they had winners from the last two years as well as senior major champions from the last five years, along with a few sponsor exemptions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
