
Miguel Angel Jimenez wins playoff at Firestone for his 4th PGA Tour Champions victory of the season
Jun 23, 2025 04:34 AM IST
AKRON, Ohio — Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Kaulig Companies Championship on Sunday for his fourth PGA Tour Champions victory of the season, rallying to force a playoff and beating Steven Alker with a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole. HT Image
Two strokes down after playing partner Alker birdied the par-5 16th, Jimenez made a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th and an 18-footer on the par-4 18th.
Tied for the lead entering the round at Firestone South, the 61-year-old Jimenez and 53-year-old Alker each shot 2-under 68 to finish at 10-under 270 in the major championship.
They each parred the 18th on the first playoff hole, with Jimenez missing an 18-foot birdie try and Alker holing a 3 1/2-footer to send it back to tee for a second extra hole.
Before Jimenez's winning putt, Alker missed a 20-foot birdie try after a recovery shot from the trees right of the fairway.
Jimenez won his third major title after taking the Regions Tradition and the Senior British Open — both in 2018 — and earned a spot next year in The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass. The Spanish star has 17 career victories on 50-and-over tour.
Jimenez beat Alker by two strokes in the Trophy Hassan II in February in Morocco, then won the Hoag Classic in March in Newport Beach, California, and the Principal Charity Classic in a playoff three weeks ago in Des Moines, Iowa.
Stewart Cink was third at 8 under after a 66. Steve Flesch was another stroke after a 65.
The U.S. Senior Open begins Thursday at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
golf: /hub/golf
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Hindustan Times
13 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Miguel Angel Jimenez wins playoff at Firestone for his 4th PGA Tour Champions victory of the season
Jun 23, 2025 04:34 AM IST AKRON, Ohio — Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Kaulig Companies Championship on Sunday for his fourth PGA Tour Champions victory of the season, rallying to force a playoff and beating Steven Alker with a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole. HT Image Two strokes down after playing partner Alker birdied the par-5 16th, Jimenez made a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th and an 18-footer on the par-4 18th. Tied for the lead entering the round at Firestone South, the 61-year-old Jimenez and 53-year-old Alker each shot 2-under 68 to finish at 10-under 270 in the major championship. They each parred the 18th on the first playoff hole, with Jimenez missing an 18-foot birdie try and Alker holing a 3 1/2-footer to send it back to tee for a second extra hole. Before Jimenez's winning putt, Alker missed a 20-foot birdie try after a recovery shot from the trees right of the fairway. Jimenez won his third major title after taking the Regions Tradition and the Senior British Open — both in 2018 — and earned a spot next year in The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass. The Spanish star has 17 career victories on 50-and-over tour. Jimenez beat Alker by two strokes in the Trophy Hassan II in February in Morocco, then won the Hoag Classic in March in Newport Beach, California, and the Principal Charity Classic in a playoff three weeks ago in Des Moines, Iowa. Stewart Cink was third at 8 under after a 66. Steve Flesch was another stroke after a 65. The U.S. Senior Open begins Thursday at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado. golf: /hub/golf This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Stay updated with the latest sports news, including latest headlines and updates from the Olympics 2024, where Indian athletes will compete for glory in Paris. Catch all the action from tennis Grand Slam tournaments, follow your favourite football teams and players with the latest match results, and get the latest on international hockey tournaments and series.


Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Miguel Angel Jimenez, Steven Alker lead through three at Kaulig Companies Championship
Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez shot a 4-under-par 66 on Saturday to forge a tie atop the leaderboard with New Zealand's Steven Alker at the Kaulig Companies Championship on Friday in Akron, Ohio. HT Image Jimenez got to 8 under for the tournament, the third major of the PGA Tour Champions season, despite a bogey on Hole 12 thanks in part to three birdies on the front nine, and then back-to-back birdies on Holes 10 and 11. The 61-year-old has had a season to remember with three championships, already matching a career high for him on the Champions Tour. Earlier this month, Jimenez prevailed at the Principal Charity Classic, after previously winning the Hoag Classic in March and the Trophy Hassan II in February. In the spirit of that success, he's not stressing the final round Sunday. "I'm going to go to a nice restaurant, I'm going to have a nice bottle of wine, beautiful big fat cigar and enjoy myself," Jimenez said. "Then whatever happens tomorrow, whatever happens, happens." Alker, who led through Friday at Firestone with a pair of other golfers, managed to remain tied in first with his 3-under 67 despite the Spaniard's hard charge. The 53-year-old grabbed four birdies on the day to pair with a single bogey on the eighth in becoming the only golfer in the event to shoot below par all three days of the event thus far. Alker is in pursuit of his second senior major championship, and he acknowledged the difficulty in making par on this course. "Yeah, I mean, another tough day around here," Alker said. "Boy, the course didn't give us a lot with the wind, it was a little bit stronger today, course is drying out a little bit. Again, pleased to get under par and tied for the lead. Just again, go out and battle again tomorrow." New Zealand's Michael Wright matched Jimenez and American John Huston with the low round of the day at 4-under 66, tying him with Sweden's Freddie Jacobson for third place at 6 under, two strokes back. Fellow New Zealander Richard Green is alone in fifth after his 3-under 67. Meanwhile, Tim Petrovic, a Day 2 co-leader who had been one of the surprises of the tournament, fell into a tie for sixth with his 1-over 71. He is tied at 4 under with Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen and Stewart Cink, who both shot 67. Day 2's other co-leader, Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez, fell into a tie for ninth at 2 under after his 3-over 73. Field Level Media This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.


Hindustan Times
16-06-2025
- Hindustan Times
US Open champion JJ Spaun turned a freefall into a title at rain-soaked Oakmont
OAKMONT, Pa. — Nobody backs their way into a U.S. Open title. J.J. Spaun wasn't about to be the first to say he did. On a day built for umbrellas, panchos and industrial-sized squeegees, Spaun reversed his own freefall, took advantage of several others' and hit two shots that turned him into a major champion while finally, mercifully, creating a moment to remember at the rain-soaked brute called Oakmont. 'I just tried to dig deep,' said the 34-year-old Californian who can now call himself a major champion. 'I've been doing it my whole life.' The shots that will go down in history are the drive he hit on the reachable par-4 17th and the 65-foot putt he sank with the sun going down and the rain falling on 18. The first set up a birdie that put him in the lead by himself for good. The second was for emphasis — he only needed a two-putt, after all — that ensured this U.S. Open would finish with one — and only one — player under par. The 65 footer, the longest of any putt made all tournament, closed out a back nine 32 and left Spaun at 1-under 279 for the tournament. His 72 was the highest closing-round score for a U.S. Open winner in 15 years. But that wasn't Sunday's takeaway. Rather, it was the 401.5 feet worth of putts the champion made over four days. And the fact that Spaun joined none other than Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Jon Rahm as the fifth U.S. Open winner to finish birdie-birdie. 'I just felt like you keep putting yourself in these positions, like eventually you're going to tick one off,' said Spaun, whose loss in a playoff to Rory McIlroy three months ago at The Players Championship was his third top-three finish of 2025. But at the U.S. Open? In that kind of weather? None of it seemed possible when the rain started coming down during the tail end of a front-nine 40 that took Spaun from one shot back at the start of the day to four behind and fading fast. A 1-hour, 37-minute rain delay ensued. It was a break that changed everything. 'They were just like, 'Dude, just chill,'' Spaun said of the pep talk he got from his coaches. They suggested that, if earlier in the week, he'd been told he could be four shots back with nine holes to play, he would have jumped at the chance. 'They just said, 'Just let it come to you, be calm. Stop trying so hard,'' Spaun said. Staying calm resulted in making a downhill 40 footer on the par-5 12th for birdie, then a 22-foot birdie on 14 to take the lead by himself for the first time, at even par. Everywhere else, meltdowns in the rain. Third-round leader Sam Burns thinned a shot out of a divot and over the 11th green en route to the first of two back-nine double bogeys. He shot 40 on the back and finished tied for seventh. Adam Scott, the only major champion in the top 10 after Saturday's play, shot 41 in the rain on the back nine and dropped to 12th. 'I didn't adapt to those conditions well enough,' Scott said. Tyrell Hatton, who shot 72, briefly threatened and was part of a brief five-way deadlock for the lead before making bogey on the last two holes to finish tied for fourth. Robert MacIntyre turned out to be Spaun's most persistent challenger. The left-hander from Scotland faded his drive just short of the green on the way to birdie on 17 to get to 1 over and set the target for Spaun, who was playing three groups behind. MacIntyre was waiting in the locker room when Spaun hit his approach on 18 to 65 feet. Everyone knew it was no sure two-putt. Hardly anyone expected Spaun to get down in one. 'To watch him hole the putt on 12 down the hill there was unreal,' said Viktor Hovland, who played in the twosome with Spaun. 'And then he makes another one on 14 that was straight down the hill. And then the one on 18, it's just absolutely filthy there.' When they close the book on Spaun's victory at this rainy U.S. Open, maybe the most telling story will be about the way his Father's Day began. As much as the front-nine 40, it had to do with the 3 a.m. trip to the drug store for his daughter, Violet, who Spaun said was 'vomiting all over.' 'It was kind of a rough start to the morning,' he said. 'I'm not blaming that on my start, but it kind of fit the mold of what was going on, the chaos.' Then, through all the rain, and through all those bad lies and bad breaks, Spaun brought some order to it all with a drive and a putt that landed him with the silver trophy and gold medal that go to U.S. Open winners. 'We all sacrifice so much to be here, and to see it come to fruition, that's why we do it,' said Spaun's coach, Adam Schriber. 'It's for these moments.' golf: /hub/golf