Miguel Angel Jimenez used his second hole-in-one of the week to increase his cushion and ultimately carded a 7-under 65 on Sunday to post a four-shot victory in the Cologuard Classic at Tucson, Ariz.
Jimenez finished at 18-under-par 198 at Omni Tucson National to easily outduel Woody Austin and Germany’s Bernard Langer and win for the second time in three events this season. Austin shot 66 and Langer posted a 65.
Jimenez led by three shots as he stood at the tee of the 188-yard, par-3 14th hole. His 6-iron shot landed in front of the hole and took four bounces before dropping in.
The Spaniard also had a hole-in-one on Friday at the par-3 seventh.
“I have 13 aces in tournaments already, but first time I have two in the same tournament,” Jimenez said after his 12th Champions victory. “You never think about it. You want to hit a good shot and hit it as close as possible.”
Jimenez also carded an eagle on the par-5 second hole on an afternoon in which he also had four birdies and one bogey.
“To me to win any tournament is amazing,” Jimenez said. “To win in Tucson is nice because, as I said before, shows you are in good form and looking forward. It’s very important for me to win any tournament. In this case we are playing Tucson here, it’s a great place.”
The 58-year-old Jimenez is the first player since Loren Roberts in 2006 to win two of the first three tour events.
Langer didn’t have much of a chance of catching Jimenez and remains two behind Hale Irwin’s Champions record of 45 victories.
The 64-year-old had seven birdies in a bogey-free round.
“It was great. Played pretty good, 65 today on Sunday, 7 under is always special,” Langer said. “Almost shot my age. Just Jimenez was too good this week. He’s had a nice lead going into today and he’s on fire again.
“He’s a great player and we were basically battling it out for second between Woody Austin and myself.”
Austin carded seven birdies and one bogey during his low round of the tournament.
“Hit a lot of good shots. I only missed one green today,” Austin said. “Keep that up and hole some putts like I did on the back nine, it will be a really good year. Hopefully it’s a good sign because it was a bad year last year, so hopefully this means this year’s a good one because it’s a lot better at the beginning of the year than it normally is.”
Jerry Kelly shot 70 to finish alone in fourth at 11-under 205. Scott Parel (68) was fifth at 10 under.
Rocco Mediate posted the best round of the day with a 9-under 63 that included 10 birdies and one bogey. The runner-up to Tiger Woods at the famous 91-hole 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines finished in a tie for 13th at 7 under.
Defending champion Kevin Sutherland (70) also finished in the tie for 13th.
–Field Level Media
