South African Ernie Els fired a 6-under 66 on Saturday to win the season-opening Mitsubishi Electrical Championship at Hualalai in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.
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Els completed at 18-under 198 via his three rounds at Hualalai Golf Course, edging Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain and Germans Alex Cejka and Bernhard Langer by two strokes. Jimenez shared low-round honors with three others because of a 64 on Saturday, whereas Cejka carded a 68 and Langer tallied a 66.
After a bogey on the par-4 third, Els heated up with birdies at three of the following 4 holes. He needed to accept one other bogey at No. 8, however it was easy crusing from there, because the 55-year-old went 5 underneath the remainder of the best way.
“I got off to a bit of a slow start, but got it going and then bogeyed No. 8 again,” Els mentioned. “Alex played wonderful, Miguel made a big run. There were other players making runs, so we had to keep pace with basically the field and that’s what we did. …
“Fortunate for me, I stored making large putts, large putts on 15 and 16. Then clearly when Bernhard missed his birdie on 18, my putt was a little bit simpler, so I rolled that one. However what a battle.”
Els credited the early-season success to a relaxing offseason.
“I simply loved myself, you realize? We went all the way down to South Africa, household and mates down there, summer season holidays for us. Spent six weeks down in South Africa at Herolds Bay and performed a number of social golf with my mates,” Els said. “I solely see them yearly, most of them, so performed a number of golf, drank a number of beer, ate a number of good meals, got here again very wholesome.”
Jimenez got here roaring out of the gate, amassing six birdies on the entrance 9 earlier than ending with 9 in all. His solely blemish was a bogey on the par-3 eighth.
Jerry Kelly and New Zealand’s Steven Alker ended up tied for fifth at 15-under 201.
Ken Tanigawa ended up 4 pictures off the lead and secured sole possession of seventh place, simply forward of a four-way tie for eighth.
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