Miguel Angel Jimenez, buoyed by a crucial eagle on the 17th hole, shot a final-round 69 to win the Trophy Hassan II in Rabat, Morocco, on Saturday.
He fired a 4-under-par 69 on Friday to share the lead with Steven Alker of New Zealand, who lost that co-lead on the next-to-last hole of the final round at the PGA Tour Champions event at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
Jimenez, of Spain, finished at 11-under 208. Alker shot a 71 to finish two strokes back at 9-under.
Paired together and tied heading to No. 17, Alker watched as the drive from Jimenez on the par 4, 287-yard hole landed on the green, about 10 feet short of the flag. While Alker made par, Jimenez calmly holed out for an eagle, giving him an insurmountable two-shot lead with one hole to play.
“When I got my chance, I hit good shots,” said Jimenez, 61.
For Jimenez, it was his 14th career win on the Champions Tour but his first since the 2022 Boeing Classic.
Jimenez said he relished the boost he got from fans on the course.
“Yeah, very nice support out here,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that like me here, a lot of Spanish people also.”
The 11-under finish set a tournament record for the Trophy Hassan II event. The 69 from Jimenez tied Ernie Els of South Africa for the low score on Saturday.
Els finished alone in third place at 7-under, with K.J. Choi of South Korea (70) in fourth place at 6-under and Brazil’s Adilson da Silva (72) in fifth place at 4-under. It was the best finish for da Silva in 10 starts on the Champions tour.
Alker was the leader or co-leader in each of the first two rounds. His runner-up finish is the sixth since his last victory at the 2024 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
–Field Level Media
