Benton Harbor, a small town of just over 10,000 inhabitants in Berrien county, in the state of Michigan, welcomes this week the participants in the 84th edition of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, the second of the five majors of the Champions Tour season. Among them, the Spaniard José María Olazábal, who is attracting a lot of attention after his sensational performance in the past Masters of Augusta and who returns to competition after several weeks out due to injury.
The man from Fuenterrabía not only made the cut at the Augusta National, where he won two Green Jackets in the nineties, but he was able to reach the 45th place tied with a final score of nine strokes above par, the same as players like Brooks Koepka, Sahith Theegala, Danny Willett, Denny McCarthy… or the very Jon Rahm, thus placing himself tied as the best of the Spaniards in this edition of the legendary Georgia tournament.
A family week for Team Stricker ❤️
Steve has his daughter, Bobbi, on the bag as he hopes to defend his title @SeniorPGAChamp. pic.twitter.com/7tcDQpbyCO
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 21, 2024
A fibre problem has kept him out of competition since then, although not from continuing to train and hit balls regularly. He will now be tested in an event that returns to the Harbor Shores Resort for the sixth time since 2012. A total of 156 players with Steve Stricker as the defender and stars of the level of Padraig Harrington, Stephen Ames, Bernhard Langer, Retief Goosen, Mike Weir, Darren Clarke, Erniel Els, Stewart Cink, Paul Broadhurst, Vijay Singh or Colin Montgomerie, among others, will seek alongside Chema a title that has as an additional prize a place in the PGA Championship of 2025.
Also present, of course, will be the other Spaniard on the tour, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, who despite not having his best season in terms of results, has four top 10s, including a solo third place in the Hoag Classic Newport Beach, and aspires to continue expanding his record in terms of the senior circuit’s Grand Slams, after winning the Regions Tradition and the Senior Open in 2018. Without a doubt, a real tournament, with four rounds with a cut on Friday for the top 70 and ties, in which Olazábal and Miguel want to be protagonists.
Check the live results of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship
Tournament dates: from 23 to 26 May
Course: Golf Club at Harbor Shores
Time difference with Spain: 6 hours
Thursday’s tee times: Miguel Ángel Jiménez at 14.23 (Spanish peninsular time) and José María Olazábal at 19.57 hours.
