Miguel Ángel Jiménez (-3), with a round of 71 strokes, one more than on Thursday, was left without options to fight for victory in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the first tournament of the 2024 season of the PGA Champions Tour and in which he has three victories throughout his career. The golfer from Malaga, with three birdies and two bogeys, could not keep up with the high success rate shown, especially, by the top three in the ranking.
The New Zealander Steven Alker (-16), who started as co-leader, was able to improve the 65 he had signed in the first day of competition of the Hawaiian tournament to deliver a tremendous card of 63 strokes, with seven birdies and an eagle, to take the lead in the ranking alone. Under normal conditions, it would have been difficult for anyone to keep up with his birdie production, but the Americans Harrison Frazar (-14) and Steve Stricker (-14) gave themselves one last chance to fight this Saturday for the first title of the year on the senior tour.
Steven Alker is on fire!
He extends his lead to two after an incredible eagle @MEC_Golf 💪 pic.twitter.com/2SkCWjhXhQ
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 20, 2024
Frazar, 52 years old, made his victory debut on the Champions Tour last year, winning the Dominion Energy Charity Classic on the first hole of the playoff, against Richard Green. Precisely in a playoff was also how the only victory of his professional career in the PGA Tour came, the FedEx St. Jude Classic of 2011, against Robert Karlsson. He lost another playoff seven years earlier against Vijay Singh in the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he now seeks to start the year winning.
Stricker, for his part, was absolutely unbeatable on this senior circuit last season, with no less than six titles, including this Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, in which he seeks to revalidate the triumph. Players like Ernie Els (-11), David Toms (-10), Justin Leonar (-10) or the very Vijay Singh (-9) hope not to have said their last word yet, although it will be difficult to get into this fight for three. Bernhard Langer (-3), for his part, is tied in 21st place with Jiménez after settling today with a round of 73 strokes.
Here comes @SteveStricker 👀
The defending champ is one back after a birdie on 12 @MEC_Golf pic.twitter.com/4XDcTOqGa1
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 20, 2024
This Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai is played over 54 holes, without cut, and distributes a prize pool of two million dollars among its participants.
