Planet Golf — 02 April 2016 by GW staff and news services
Jimenez rallies for Champions Tour win

SAUCIER, Miss. — Miguel Angel Jimenez shot an 8-under 64 to win the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic by two strokes on Sunday.

Jimenez started the day in third place, three shots behind leader Scott Dunlap. But the 52-year-old from Spain took control on the tournament’s final day, thanks to a bogey-free round that included four straight birdies from No. 10 to No. 13.

It is Jimenez’s third victory on the PGA Tour Champions in just 10 starts dating back to 2014. He was 14 under for the tournament at Fallen Oak.

Dunlap couldn’t keep up with Jimenez but finished in second place after shooting a 69. Tom Pernice Jr., Jeff Maggert and Jerry Smith were five shots behind Jimenez to finish in a tie for third.

WINNER NOTES

Miguel Angel Jimenez (68-70-64—202/-14)

Wins his third PGA Tour Champions title in just his 10th start on Tour and wins an event for the third year in a row.

His bogey-free, final-round 8-under-par 64 was the lowest final round in tournament history.

Played his final 30 holes without a bogey and led all players with 17 birdies.

His previous wins on PGA Tour Champions were at the 2014 Greater Gwinnett Championship and the 2015 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

When he won in 2014, he became the 18th PGA Tour Champions player to win in his debut and was also the third player to win his debut in wire-to-wire fashion, joining Rod Funseth (1983 Hall of Fame Tournament) and Bruce Fleisher (1999 Royal Caribbean Classic) with that distinction.

Owns 15 wins on the European Tour and has played in well over 600 events on that Tour which is the third most ever.

Has represented Spain 14 times in World Cup competition and is a four-time European Ryder Cup performer.

Hails from Malaga, Spain.

What They Said

Miguel has this mystique about him being the most interesting man in the world. What’s he really like?

SCOTT DUNLAP: I enjoy Miguel. Yeah, he’s great. I mean, for all the guys that are just in the gym and personal trainers and dieticians and all this other nonsense, the guy with the ponytail and paunch and smoking a cigar. When I played with him last year in Hawaii, he was like 38th in the world and I said I want to see the 37 that are better. I guess he’s not in the Masters next week. I guess he’s kind of winding down out there on the main tour, but if that isn’t world class, I don’t know what is.”

Round Three Notes

With his T6 finish, Bernhard Langer has now finished in the top-10 in all five events on the schedule this year, the only player on Tour to have done so.

Bernhard Langer remains atop the Charles Schwab Cup standings with $517,050. Duffy Waldorf is second with $384,990.

Glen Day’s T6 finish earned him a spot in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic the week of April 11th at the TPC Sugarloaf near Atlanta. Day is currently the fifth alternate, but as a top-10 finisher not previously exempt, he earns a berth in the field.

Michael Allen and Scott Verplank each rebounded from opening-round 3-over-par 75s to finish T11.

John Huston withdrew prior to the start of the final round with a back issue.

Defending champion David Frost finished T41.

The field averaged 73.199 for the event, a drop from last year’s average of 73.472.

The most difficult hole was No. 10 with an average score of 4.286, while No. 15 was the easiest at 4.735 (-.265).

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