CALGARY \u2014 Miguel Angel Jimenez hit a short iron from the eighth fairway, the ball landing just six inches behind the hole before spinning in for an eagle. He took the club and sheathed it like a pretend sword before putting his fists near his hips and shimmying backwards with five dancing steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0\u2018Most\u00a0Interesting\u00a0Man\u00a0in\u00a0Golf,\u2019\u00a0as so many claim him to be, is also playing the best of anyone on PGA Tour Champions.\u00a0He has four wins already this season, and in the driver\u2019s seat at the Rogers Charity Classic heading into Sunday\u2019s finale in Calgary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jimenez, who shot his second 7-under 63 in a row at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, leads by one through 36 holes over Richard Green, who finished second last year at the Rogers Charity Classic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ricardo Gonzalez, Steven Alker (who is on pace to notch his 12th\u00a0top-10\u00a0result in 15 events), and Tommy Gainey, who is gunning to become the youngest-ever winner on PGA Tour Champions having turned 50 just three days ago, are tied for third and two back of Jimenez.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jimenez, who leads the Schwab Cup money list by nearly $700,000, has been as steady as anyone on the over-50 circuit with 11\u00a0top-10\u00a0finishes in 17 starts. Amongst his four wins is also a major, having won the\u00a0Kaulig\u00a0Companies Championship in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Spainard didn\u2019t do anything spectacular in the second round but managed to score in an impressive fashion \u2014 notching eight birdies, plus the aforementioned eagle \u2014 on Saturday. He opened with a bogey but made birdies\u00a0on Nos. 3-5, and then after another bogey on the par-4 10th he made three birdies in a row,\u00a0again. He bounced back with one more circle on the scorecard\u00a0on the par-5 18th.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you miss a shot, you can make a bogey,\u201d Jimenez said. \u201cMake some birdies and it gives you wings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never miss a shot \u2014 jus sometimes the trees come into the middle,\u201d he added with a smile. \u201cI\u2019ve been hitting it very solid, especially my\u00a0irons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cVery happy to be in this position (but) you cannot sleep (on this field). People are playing very well. Tomorrow is another day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although his stretching routine has repeatedly gone viral with the\u00a0magical\u00a0twirling of this\u00a0hips\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and he\u2019s long known as a lover of fine wines and cigars\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Jimenez has kept himself in great shape as he looks to continue to be competitive into his 60s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFeel like a bull,\u201d Jimenez said with a smile. \u201cI do my stuff, you know?\u00a0My workout because, you know, at the age we have, we have to focus more on this performance, yourself, my body. No, I am not body lifting, but I lift a little bit.\u00a0You know, I think I can do it and keep the mobility. That is very important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Green has found himself in a familiar spot on the PGA Tour Champions leaderboard, as he has had six runner-up finishes on PGA Tour Champions since 2023. He\u2019s also been a model of consistency with 14\u00a0top-10\u00a0finishes over the last two seasons \u2014 alas, he has yet to find the winner\u2019s circle.<\/p>\n
Green was firmly in the mix last year at the Rogers Charity Classic before fading on Sunday and finishing two shots back of eventual winner Ken Tanigawa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMiguel (is)\u00a0obviously having an amazing year this year.\u00a0And he’s going to be tough to beat so I’m going to have to play my absolute best golf.\u00a0And I’d have to say that today was pretty close to some of my best golf,\u201d Green said. \u201cSo,\u00a0if I can continue to do that tomorrow, I’ll be very happy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To finally breakthrough for a win, however, he\u2019s going to have to take down the hottest player on PGA Tour Champions this season in Jimenez \u2014 who has also had some impressive success at Canyon Meadows. In 2015 Jimenez shot a 61, tied for the course record. He also has a runner-up (2017) and a fifth-place result (in 2018).<\/p>\n
\u201cI love to play the game, and I love to win \u2014 who does not love to win? I have four victories and tomorrow I\u2019ll try to do my best to have a fifth one,\u201d Jimenez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wes Martin, a Calgary local who qualified earlier this week and is making his PGA Tour Champions debut, leads the Canadian contingent. He heads into Sunday\u2019s finale tied for 22nd. Mike Weir shot under par Saturday while Gord Burns is even par,\u00a0and Stephen Ames is 2 over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
19-year-old Sydney Bisgrove topped a field of hockey superstars in a closest-to-the-pin competition earning $115,400 for the First Tee \u2013 Alberta.<\/p>\n
The total raised for various charities was $161,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bisgrove, a junior member at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club recently finished second at the Alberta Women\u2019s Amateur and took down Dustin Wolf, the Calgary Flames goalie, in the finale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 Miguel Angel Jimenez hit a short iron from the eighth fairway, the ball landing just six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-75685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}