Retief Goosen recorded a bogey-free back nine and birdied the 18th hole in Sunday’s final round to win the Mitsubishi Electric Classic by two points at +39 in Sugarloaf, Ga.
The tournament used the Modified Stableford scoring system to encourage aggressive play. Rather than scoring relative to par, points are awarded per hole — minus-1 for a bogey, zero for par and two for birdie. Eagles are worth five points while double bogeys are minus-3.
Goosen entered the third round three points back of Zach Johnson at +25 after scoring +12 on Friday and +13 on Saturday. The South African made five birdies in a six-hole span between Nos. 2-7 to surge ahead.
“I got into a great rhythm all week. I drove it really well in the first round, yesterday pretty poor and today was a little better,” Goosen said. “The putter this week got me going and that’s how you win tournaments.”
After a bogey on the par-4 ninth, he posted six pars along with birdies on the 10th, 13th and 18th holes. The last birdie broke a deadlock with Canada’s Stephen Ames (+37), preventing a playoff and handing the two-time major champion his fifth Champions Tour title.
A special moment was made that much more memorable by the fact that Goosen’s son was there in person to watch him finish atop the leaderboard.
“I think the biggest emotion is that I’ve won in front of my son, him actually seeing me win, not seeing me on TV win,” Goosen said. “Was nice to pull it off in front of him. Last time I won in front of him he was one year old in 2004’s U.S. Open, so really proud moment to have him here and see me lifting a trophy.”
Ames (+19 Sunday) was tied with two others for the best score of the tournament in Sunday’s round, nearly rallying all the way back from a +2 opening round that had him well down the leaderboard. He carded one eagle, seven birdies and no bogeys.
Johnson (+8) had two birdies and two bogeys in the first six holes before rattling off nine straight pars to halt what had been a consistent week of putting up positive numbers. He birdied the final three holes, finishing a stroke back of Ames in third place at +36.
Stewart Cink (+19) and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (+15) rounded out the top five at +35 and +33. Cink, who scored a combined +30 in the first and third rounds, was derailed by a +5 on Saturday.
“(Sunday) was a little bit more, I don’t know, a little bit more purposeful mindset,” Cink said. “And I don’t know why I felt more freed up, but I felt more freed up to just go out there and just throw it all against the wall and see what happens. Got off to a great start, made eagle on 6. It’s amazing how quickly you can get back into this thing in this format. It’s really interesting and fun.”
