Two of the seven events so far in 2024 have been won by a Steve: Steven Alker at the season opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii in January and Stephen Ames, who won the Chubb Classic in February.
Now, make it a third.
This follows a 2023 in which 13 of the 28 events were won by some form of a Steve, including Alker, Ames, Steve Stricker, and Steve Flesch.
This week at the 2024 Mitsubishi Electric Classic at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia, it was Ames riding the strength of two eagles in the final round to win by four shots over Paul Broadhurst and Doug Barron.
On the sixth hole Sunday, which is his 60th birthday, Ames grabbed a share of the lead after holing out for his first eagle of the day.
An eagle hole-out on No. 6 to take the lead!
A ridiculous shot from the defending champ @StephenAmesPGA @MEClassicGolf 🔥 pic.twitter.com/cAL2hmsk6s
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) April 28, 2024
Ames took a three-shot lead on 13 when he carded his second eagle of the day after driving the green on the 310-yard par 4 to get to 14 under. From there, he had two birdies and two bogeys to close with a 67 to claim his eighth win but more impressively his sixth in his last 29 starts on the tour.
“Two reasons to celebrate tonight,” Ames said, noting the win on his birthday, which is also his third in this event. “The first day wasn’t that bad, I hit two bad shots, made two doubles. It was like, you know what, it felt good, I didn’t really kick myself down at all. Then I came out the next day and I was like it was a little calm unlike today and I just played golf and didn’t make any mistakes and I made eight birdies. So that just kind of vaulted me straight back up the board there. I was like, hey, now I give myself an opportunity and I took the opportunity in hand, which was nice.”
K.J. Choi and Steven Alker tied for fifth at 9 under.
Chip shots
Broadhurst, who led by a shot after 36 holes, was seeking to be the first to win back-to-back tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions since Steve Stricker won consecutive majors in May of 2023 and also the first to win back-to-back weeks on the Champions tour when Bernhard Langer did it in 2017.
Langer, out since February after tearing his Achilles playing pickleball, has announced his return to the Champions tour will come next week at the Insperity Invitational near Houston.
Jay Haas, 70, beat his age by three shots with a 5-under 67 in the second round. It’s the fourth time he’s shot his age or better during the 2024 season.
John Daly, not in the field this week, turned 58 on Sunday.
