TUCSON, Ariz. — Miguel Angel Jimenez felt the breeze coming out of the right, saw the pin on the left and pulled out his 6-iron. With his shot shape and the hole location, the sweet-swinging Spaniard thought he might be able to get it close.
Never did he expect to see a second hole-in-one in the same tournament. Jimenez holed the 6-iron on the 178-yard 14th hole for his second ace of the Cologuard Classic and closed with a 7-under 65 on Sunday for his second win in three PGA Tour Champions starts this season.
"I hit a beautiful 6-iron, it went at the hole and, ace," said Jimenez, wearing the traditional conquistador's helmet awarded to the winner. "You never think about it. You know you want to hit a good shot and put it as close as possible." Jimenez started the final round with a two-shot lead and got off to a birdie-eagle start at Tucson National. Reigning Charles Schwab Cup champion Bernhard Langer cut the lead to three with a birdie on the par-5 12th, but Jimenez followed with one of his own in the group behind.
The 58-year-old Spaniard ended any hope of a late rally with his ace to match the one he had at No. 7 in the opening round. Jimenez closed with four straight pars to finish at 18-under 198 and win for the 12th time on the PGA Tour Champions. Langer shot 65 to match Woody Austin (66) at 14 under. Jerry Kelly finished fourth after a 70 put him at 11 under.
"Pretty good when you make two holes-in-one in the same week," Austin said. "There's four shots right there." Jimenez won the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii and was fifth last week at the Chubb Classic in Florida. He opened the Cologuard Classic with a 66, thanks in part to his ace, and overcame two closing errant drives to shoot 67 in the second round.
Jimenez shot 4-under 32 on the front nine in his final round and bounced back from a bogey on the par-4 ninth — he hit behind a trailer left of the fairway — by getting up and down for birdie just short of the par-5 12th.The European Tour record holder with 10 aces, Jimenez celebrated his latest hole-in-one by raising his arms and doing a little shimmy. He then walked arm-in-arm with Kelly onto the green.
Tim Petrovic had two aces in last year's Cologuard Classic. Jimenez closed with an easy two-putt par for the victory. He finished fifth here last year.
"I've been there several times here, been close the last couple of years I have played this tournament," he said. "My game was very good, solid." Langer made an early run in his bid to win consecutive starts on the over-50 tour, pouring in four birdies over his first six holes. The 64-year-old German had three birdies on his back nine and saved par on No. 18 after hitting his drive into the water.
