Sparked by two huge eagles, Stephen Ames rules (again) at Mitsubishi Electric Classic

So, for those who have had one, do you remember how you celebrated your 60th birthday? Stephen Ames will not soon forget his. His milestone day was marked not only with a two-decker cake at breakfast, but a nice trophy, too. Collecting them has become a new hobby.

Ames continued his torrid play of the last two seasons on the PGA TOUR Champions, making not one, but two eagles Sunday at TPC Sugarloaf and eventually pulling away to win comfortably at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic presented by Vensure just outside Atlanta. He shot 5-under 67, finished at 14-under 202, and jumped to the top of the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

After winning two times in his first 175 starts on PGA TOUR Champions, Ames now has won in six of his last 29 starts, a stretch that began just over a year ago. Ames becomes the first PGA TOUR Champions competitor to win twice this season, having captured the Chubb Classic two months earlier.

“It was like, 'Hey, now I gave myself an opportunity (with his Saturday 64),' and I took the opportunity in hand, which is nice,” said Ames, who won by four shots over Doug Barron (bogey-free 69) and Paul Broadhurst (72). Steven Alker (71) and K.J. Choi (70) tied for fourth at 9-under.

Born in Trinidad & Tobago, a resident of Turks and Caicos and longtime holder of a Canadian passport, Ames has uncovered something in his game over the past two seasons. He always has had the elite ball-striking – it was good enough to win four times on the PGA TOUR, including a signature win at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2006. But it is his improved putting that has jettisoned him into becoming a weekly contender among the over-50 set. He delivered an exclamation point on his victory with a 35-footer for birdie at his final hole.

When the ball vanished, Ames held his arms outstretched and smiled, as if to tell the fans at TPC Sugarloaf, “Any questions?” There were none.

Sunday’s convincing triumph was the third for Ames on the property, which staged a PGA TOUR event for 11 years. Not only was Ames defending champion, but he also collected his very first Champions triumph at TPC Sugarloaf, in 2017. After a rocky opening-round 71 on Friday that included a pair of double bogeys (and another hole-out eagle) and left him six shots off the lead, Ames was in a class of his own over the weekend. Saturday, he made eight birdies in a 64 that tied the tournament scoring mark; Sunday took a bit, but heated up to turn into something special. Only one player (Tom Pernice Jr., who went out early and shot 66) would fire a lower final round.

After a somewhat slow start to his Sunday (1-under through five holes), Ames holed out his third from 82 yards for eagle at the 569-yard sixth, spinning a wedge into the hole, and was off and running. As he stood over his third shot, Ames trailed Broadhurst, the 36-hole leader, by three; when his eagle fell and Broadhurst made bogey from a poor lie in a front bunker, the two players walked to the seventh tee tied at 12-under.

“I had a straight uphill putt,” Ames said. “That made the putt a little easier ... I mean, I kind of snowballed everything and obviously made the gap a little bit bigger for me to come home, just kind of cruise away at the end.”

The day’s final group had featured the Nos. 1 (Alker), 2 (Broadhurst) and 4 (Ames) players in the season’s Charles Schwab Cup standings. All three were seeking their second victory of 2024; Ames came in as defending champion, and Broadhurst won just last week in Dallas (Invited Celebrity Classic) after going winless for more than five years. He was trying to become the first Champions TOUR player to win in back-to-back weeks since Bernhard Langer in 2017.

Broadhurst, 58, was right there, too, until the par-4 12th, where he happened to make an untimely double. He was hole-high in two shots at the difficult 433-yard par 4, but his slick downhill chip picked up too much speed past the hole and tumbled off the far edge of the green. He chipped again, missed the bogey putt, and made 6, a huge setback.

Minutes later, Ames stepped to the tee at the 310-yard 13th and ripped a perfect driver that bounced perfectly just short of the green and ran 20 feet past the hole. He would make the uphill putt for eagle-2, stretching out to 14-under. Alker also drove the green at 13 and made a clutch 9-footer for birdie, but now was two back. Ames quickly added a birdie at 14 with a 12-footer that stayed on the left edge and tumbled in, and his lead had widened to three.

Ames would leave a small opening when he dropped shots at Nos. 15 and 16 after short misses, but Alker, the 2022 Player of the Year on Champions, failed to capitalize. Bogey-free through his first 14 holes, Alker uncharacteristically made three consecutive bogeys starting at 15. He also hit his approach into a fronting pond at 18, but managed to save par.

Why the sudden surge for Ames? Several factors. He credits the hard work he has done with Canadian coach Shauheen Nakhjavani over the past six years. Having overcome a shoulder injury, Ames keeps himself in terrific physical shape, hitting the gym four to five times a week. He stays mentally sharp after reuniting with psychologist Alan Fine, with whom Ames worked a decade ago on the PGA TOUR, climbing as high as 17th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

All the work, mainly what he has done with Nakhjavani, has allowed him to be much more consistent.

“We've worked on the same thing, somewhat the same things, and we keep refining it and getting it better where I feel a lot more comfortable when I'm playing golf, which I do right now,” he said. “I feel a lot more comfortable, pick my shot, pick my aim and just hit it. It's nice. It's just letting go, a lot easier to let go right now for me.”

At 60, Ames is a renewed, happy and rejuvenated man. As Ames approached the 18th green, the fans at TPC Sugarloaf serenaded with “Happy Birthday,” Ames playfully directing the chorus by waving his arms. He would have been pleased to two-putt from 35 feet, but hey, it was his birthday, after all, and his ball, carrying plenty of speed, hit the flagstick head-on and vanished.

Huge smile. It was a fitting ending for a 60th birthday that Ames will not soon forget.