Jimenez Wins Mitsubishi Electric in Sudden-Death Playoff

Miguel Angel Jimenez defeated Steven Alker on the second sudden-death playoff hole to win the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualālai on Saturday.

The first playoff hole, No. 18, was tied with pars after Alker missed a birdie putt for the win. On the second playoff round, on the same No. 18 hole, Jimenez made par and Alker failed to get up-and-down for par from a greenside bunker.

“It’s a nice way to start a season. It’s nice to be here winning again in Hualālai,” Jimenez said Saturday, the third day of the three-day championship. “It’s my third time, the last time in a playoff two years ago and now again. It’s nice to start the season with a victory.”

Saturday’s drama marked the sixth playoff in tournament history (1987, 1995, 2005, 2013, 2020) that it went to a playoff.

Jimenez shot 67-66-66 for 199 (-17) to seal the win. He became the second three-time winner of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualālai (2015, 2020, 2022). Two of Jimenez’s three wins at Hualālai came in a playoff, as he defeated Fred Couples and Ernie Els in 2020.

The full scoreboard is here.

Alker talked about the putt and the greenside bunker shots during the second after the $2 million tournament was over. The winner’s purse was $340,000.

“The putt, I thought I hit a pretty good putt, just maybe a little bit of grain there and it just went left on me. It was definitely inside the putt — inside the hole putt. So then I hit a pretty good shot, actually landed on the green up there my second time around and spun off. It was a poor bunker shot. I feel like I’m a pretty good bunker player, so it was
a hard shot and yeah, I hit a poor putt,” he said. “It was fun to get in position and have a chance.”