NAPLES, Florida – Once again, the PGA TOUR Champions returned to the beautiful city of Naples, Florida for the 37th consecutive year, as the Chubb Classic hosted the first full-field tournament of the 2024 season at Tiburón Golf Club’s Black Course.
The Black Course has a very distinctive look with its pine straw-lined fairways, crushed coquina waste areas and undulating greens nestled amidst acres of pine trees and native Florida foliage.
The course is a par-72 layout that stretches over 6,900 yards and follows Greg Norman’s philosophy of maximizing the natural allure of the land to produce a pleasing atmosphere in which to appreciate the finer aspects of the game.
Seventy-eight players will compete over three days (54 holes) to once again determine the winner of this prestigious Classic. The purse is $1,800,000 while the winner’s share is $270,000. Defending Champion Bernard Langer did not participate due to a recent injury.
Steven Alker will attempt to claim his third consecutive victory on PGA TOUR Champions after capturing the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and the 2023 season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. He could become the tenth player in Champions Tour history to accomplish this feat.
Alker was joined by reigning Charles Schwab Cup winner Steve Stricker and 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Padraig Harrington, among others, at Tiburon Golf Club’s Black Course. Among the notables were recently turned 50-year-old Heath Slocumb, who will be making his debut on PGA TOUR Champions.
ROUND 1
Rocco Mediate holed out for an eagle at the par-4 3rd hole at Tiburon Golf Club to set the tone and secure the 18-hole pole position. Mediate said this to the media about what happened, just prior to making his eagle.
“I kind of overdrew it, or you could call it a hook, on the third. I thought, ‘Ok, it’s in the hazard. That’s where it belongs.’
“As I’m walking up, my caddie is way up in front, and I’m looking, and I almost stepped on my ball, which hit something and came back 80 yards.”
He added, “It was a perfect lie, 174, 175 yards. Then I just made a 2. Hit a 5-iron in the hole.”
He then added four more birdies to go out in 6-under 29 (his only bogey came on the par-4 13th, after which he birdied the next four holes).
Ernie Els opening round was perfect until a bogey on the 17th hole.
“It’s out there,” Els said of the possibility of low scores. “There’s no wind. Although I made some good putts, I missed about four or five make-able putts, and obviously Rocco didn’t make any mistakes. But it’s out there.”
The leaderboard at the end of Round 1 looked like this: 1. Rocco Mediate -9 (63); T2. Ernie Els -6 (66), Alex Cejka -6 (66), Mark Hensby -6 (66); T5. Scott Dunlap -5 (67), Ken Tanigawa -5 (67), Steve Alker -5 (67), Stephen Ames -5 (67), Joe Durant -5 (67).
ROUND 2
It was an interesting Saturday on the Tiburon Golf Club’s Black Course, as players and fans alike could sense that the weather conditions were beginning to show signs of an impending storm forecasted across the state of Florida for later in the evening and into Sunday.
You could begin to see the players change their game plans from a second round of golf to the possibility of it being the final round. They were paying more attention to their positions on the leaderboard and were definitely taking more time deciding on the risks and rewards of playing each hole from tee to green.
Canadian Stephen Ames shot an 8-under 64 Saturday to move to 13-under for the tournament.
“Yeah, I thought it was kind of a day where it was get to the gate very quickly,” said Ames, “especially with the way the wind was blowing, I thought the day was going to be tougher. As it ended up, everybody did falter a little bit coming down. I was actually the only one that moved forward quite a bit.”
The leaderboard at the end of Round 2 looked like this: 1. Stephen Ames -13 (67 64); 2. Rocco Mediate -10 (63 71); T3. Paul Broadhurst -9 (69 66), Mark Hensby -9 (66 69), Ernie Els -9 (66 69), Alex Cejka -9 (66 69).
With strong winds forecasted for Sunday morning, along with torrential rains, the final round was shortened to nine holes. This is expected to change the ‘Classic’ to a 45-hole tournament rather than 54 holes. The holes planned for Sunday’s finale include Nos. 1-4 and Nos. 14-18. This is expected to keep the field close to the clubhouse in case weather conditions require a delay or termination of play.
TOURNAMENT SUSPENDED, AMES WINS
Sunday’s 9-hole finale was cancelled due to high winds accompanied by torrential rains that rendered the Tiburon Golf Club’s Black Course unplayable.
The winner of this year’s rain-shortened 2024 Chubb Classic was Stephen Ames, who finished 13 under after rounds of 67 and 64. He’s this year’s recipient of the beautiful Chrystal Glass Trophy, along with a check for $270,000.
This was Ame’s seventh career Champions Tour title. It will boost his career earnings to $9,076,376.
The runner-up was Rocco Mediate who finished three back at 10 under (63, 71). Mediate picked up a check for $158,400. He was the first-round leader with 9-under 63 but struggled to a 71 on Saturday.
Paul Broadhurst, Alex Cejka, Ernie Els, and Mark Hensby tied for third at -9. They split the 3rd-6th-place winnings, which amounted to $99,000 each.
On the web: ChubClassic.com
