(Photo credit score: Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK)
South African Ernie Els fired a 6-under 66 on Saturday to win the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.
Els completed at 18-under 198 via his three rounds at Hualalai Golf Course, edging Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain and Germans Alex Cejka and Bernhard Langer by two strokes. Jimenez shared low-round honors with three others due to a 64 on Saturday, whereas Cejka carded a 68 and Langer tallied a 66.
After a bogey on the par-4 third, Els heated up with birdies at three of the subsequent 4 holes. He needed to accept one other bogey at No. 8, however it was easy crusing from there, because the 55-year-old went 5 below the remainder of the way in which.
“I got off to a bit of a slow start, but got it going and then bogeyed No. 8 again,” Els stated. “Alex performed fantastic, Miguel made a giant run. There have been different gamers making runs, so we needed to preserve tempo with mainly the sphere and that is what we did. …
“Lucky for me, I kept making big putts, big putts on 15 and 16. Then obviously when Bernhard missed his birdie on 18, my putt was a little easier, so I rolled that one. But what a battle.”
Els credited the early-season success to a soothing offseason.
“I just enjoyed myself, you know? We went down to South Africa, family and friends down there, summer holidays for us. Spent six weeks down in South Africa at Herolds Bay and played a lot of social golf with my friends,” Els stated. “I only see them once a year, most of them, so played a lot of golf, drank a lot of beer, ate a lot of good food, came back very healthy.”
Jimenez got here roaring out of the gate, accumulating six birdies on the entrance 9 earlier than ending with 9 in all. His solely blemish was a bogey on the par-3 eighth.
Jerry Kelly (65 on Saturday) and New Zealand’s Steven Alker (65) ended up tied for fifth at 15-under 201.
Ken Tanigawa (66) ended up 4 pictures off the lead and secured sole possession of seventh place, simply forward of a four-way tie for eighth.
–Field Level Media