Miguel Angel Jimenez continued his brilliant season by capturing the third major on the PGA Tour Champions slate, the Kaulig Companies Championship, on Sunday in Akron, Ohio.
Jimenez, who triumphed for the fourth time in 2025, defeated Steven Alker on the second extra hole of a playoff at the famed Firestone Country Club. He drained a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole after Alker missed from just outside of Jimenez’s distance.
The 61-year-old Spaniard was two strokes behind Alker coming to the 17th hole. But he birdied both Nos. 17 and 18 to reach 10-under-par 270 and force a playoff.
“It was a nice finish, no?” Jimenez said. “… I hit a beautiful second shot on the 17th, hit the ball like 2 1/2 meters more or less and I holed the putt. And then on the 18th I hit a beautiful driver there and a 52 wedge and then make a putt for birdie up to there.
“I’ve been playing solid, very well. And then missed a couple of putts around there, make two bogeys, but pleased, very solid, and I just made two birdies to finish on the 72nd hole. And now in the playoff here, well, missed the birdie the first time, he made par on the second hole. He was putting for birdie before me and I holed the putt for birdie.”
The playoff combatants entered the final round tied at 8 under after back-to-back 66s by Jimenez. They each carded 2-under 68s on Sunday and finished two shots clear of Stewart Cink, who posted a 66 for a four-day total of 8-under 272.
Steve Flesch tied the week’s best with a 5-under 65 and finished three strokes behind at 7 under.
Jimenez secured his third senior major, but his first since winning both the Regions Tradition and the Senior Open Championship in 2018. He now has 17 career victories on the 50-and-over tour and received an invitation to play in the 2026 Players Championship.
Jimenez’s first victory of the season occurred at the Trophy Hassan II in Morocco, which also came at Alker’s expense. The 53-year-old New Zealand native lost by two strokes to Jimenez in February and lamented some elements of the Sunday’s final round.
“Yeah, I had a chance to win the golf tournament,” Alker said. “It was some sloppy golf in the middle, I had to kind of mentally battle through some missed fairways … but I was really proud of how I kind of came down the stretch. I hit the last like five fairways or something and five greens and just gave myself chances. Yeah, I’m proud of that.
“Miguel, the way he finished, he just did Miguel things again, you know what I mean? So kudos to him.”
Cink, 52, is enjoying his time on the tour and the competition.
“I wouldn’t say it feels like a major from the regular tour days, but it feels like pro golf when you’re in contention and you have a chance to win on Sunday on the PGA Tour Champions,” Cink said. “That’s what I love about it is that you get a chance to be in contention a lot and test yourself, and on a course like Firestone it feels as close to a major as you can get.”
Next, the players head to Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colo., for the U.S. Senior Open, which gets underway on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
