KAILUA-KONA – Back-to-back birdies gave Ernie Els an early advantage at Hualalai Golf Course, and another on the 18th hole gave him sole possession of the lead at The Mitsubishi Electric Championship on Thursday.
“I was 4-under through seven holes,” said Els, who holds a solo first-round lead for the first time in his PGA Tour Champions career. “That’s a nice start, knowing there’s birdie holes to come.
“I didn’t hit my irons that great, but I made that eagle on 14; I think that was probably the key. Eagle on 14 and that birdie on 18 was pretty nice.”
After one round, the South African’s 8-under score of 64 was good enough to take a one-stroke lead over Vijay Singh, with a quintet of golfers – Stephen Ames, Steven Alker, Retief Goosen, Darren Clarke and Bernhard Langer – lurking at two strokes back at 6-under. Four of those seven golfers – Els, Singh, Goosn and Langer – are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
“It was a fun day,” said Langer, whose highlight of the day was a chip-in birdie on the 16th hole. “Made a couple of bombs on the greens, two long putts, unexpected, but missed a whole bunch from 15, 18 feet… Overall it was a pretty solid round.”
Grouped in the final trio with the most interesting man in golf – Miguel Angel Jimenez, who enters Friday tied for eighth place at 5-under – Langer and Clarke traded birdies throughout Thursday’s round. Clarke climbed even with Langer at -6 by sinking a birdie putt on the final stroke of the day, putting an exclamation point on Thursday’s first round.
Alker, a first-timer at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, picked up right where he left off at the end of 2021, continuing his hot streak into the new year. The New Zealander posted a bogey-free round – one of ten on the day – en route to carding his 6-under round.
“I haven’t really been searching or working super hard on my game to find anything, or super improved,” said Alker. “Just trying to get a little bit stronger just offseason, work on my short game. And today it worked out nice; I played pretty solid.”
After notching his second-lowest single-round score on the PGA Tour Champions, Els will be grouped with Singh and Ames in the final trio to tee off Friday. The three will tee off at 12:33 p.m., with Els seeking to extend his lead and get in position to claim a third PGA Tour Champions victory. Round two will start at 10:10, with David Duval, Tom Watson and Stephen Dodd on the first tee.