Ernie Els, a third-year winner of the PGA Tour Champions, is a result of a late-round putting grip change.
Bernhard Langer’s record setting victory will have to wait at most for another week.
Els rode 65-65 weekends to win Sunday’s Hoag Classic at Newport Country Club, Newport Beach, California. He birdied Nos. To get things moving, he birdied Nos. 2, 3, and 4. Then he birdied the seventh. He birdied the 16th after eight consecutive pars to reach 12 under. He was in a bunker at 18 and he got up-and down to drain one more birdie to reach 13 under. Els took a left-hand, low grip on his two last birdie putsts.
Doug Barron and Steve Stricker tied for second at 12 over Barron was one shot behind the lead at the start of day and needed to birdie the last hole to reach 13 under. Barron was able to keep Els off the range by hitting 7-irons, but he missed a four-footer that would have forced him into a playoff.
Els is the fifth winner of five Champions tournaments in 2023.
Langer was at 12 under 36 holes after two days and held the solo lead. He built a two shot lead Sunday, but made bogeys at Nos. He was out at 6, 9, and 14, as he couldn’t get anything going in the final round. His fourth bogey on 14 negated his birdie at 11. Then he missed a putt on 17 to make his fifth bogey, before closing with a par for a score of 73.
Langer won for a record 45th time on Champions tour one month ago. His next win will surpass the 2007 record set by Hale Irwin. Langer’s senior win was 10 months after Irwin’s.
Next week, the PGA Tour Champions will be back in action at the Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage (California), on the Mission Hills Country Club Course. This course was once home to an LPGA major for 51 year.
