Retief Goosen’s bogey-free back nine and 18th birdie delivered his fifth Champions Tour title at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic—plus a proud moment watching it with his son.
Retief Goosen didn’t just win at Sugarloaf—he reclaimed something that’s been waiting for a while. On Sunday at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, the South African finished with a bogey-free back nine and a birdie at the 18th to secure the title.
The win came by two points at +39 in Georgia, with the tournament using the Modified Stableford format.. Instead of scoring relative to par, players earn points based on each hole: bogeys cost them one point (-1), pars are neutral (0), and birdies are rewarded with two points.. The scoring system is designed to push golfers toward risk at the right moments—eagles swing the total dramatically, worth five points, while double bogeys are heavily penalized at minus three.
Goosen entered the third round three points back of Zach Johnson at +25 after two earlier rounds that left the leaderboard tightly packed.. But the momentum shifted quickly.. Between holes 2 and 7, he found five birdies in a short stretch, turning what looked like a chase into a lead he could defend.. His week was defined by rhythm—something he described as getting into a groove all tournament long.
Sunday’s finishing sequence underlined why the format matters.. After a bogey on the par-4 ninth, Goosen responded with a calm string of six pars, then added birdies on the 10th and 13th before closing with the 18th to break a tie with Stephen Ames.. That final birdie prevented a playoff and delivered Goosen’s fifth Champions Tour victory—an outcome made even more striking by how long the road between major moments can feel.
There was also a personal layer that couldn’t be ignored.. Goosen’s son was on-site to watch him finish atop the leaderboard, turning the trophy moment into something more than a highlight clip.. The last time Goosen won in front of his son was back in 2004, when he was one year old at the US Open—so this time, the emotion carried a different weight: the difference between being present for a memory and watching it unfold in real time.
Ames, meanwhile, nearly pulled off a late comeback of his own.. He carded the best Sunday round alongside two others, adding one eagle, seven birdies, and—crucially—no bogeys.. Even though he started the week at +2 after the first round, the way he climbed toward contention showed how the Modified Stableford format can reward a player who strings together big scoring stretches.
Johnson’s week also featured a classic tempo story. He began Sunday with two birdies and two bogeys in his first six holes, then steadied himself with nine straight pars before pushing again at the finish by birdieing the final three holes. In the end, he finished third, a stroke behind Ames at +36.
The rest of the top five reflected how quickly momentum can flip in this scoring style.. Stewart Cink finished at +35 and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee at +33.. Cink’s tournament was interrupted by a costly +5 on Saturday, but his Sunday response was purposeful—he described feeling freer to swing and let the format play out.. Jaidee and the others rounded out the leaderboard with totals that underline how aggressive play can pay off when timing lines up.
What this victory suggests for the bigger picture is that “sudden surges” are more than just a feel-good phrase on the Champions Tour—they’re often the result of a format built to separate players hole by hole.. When one player finds rhythm and stays mistake-resistant, the point swings can compound fast, turning a small deficit into a clean finish.. For Goosen, the win looks like a full-circle moment: not a single lucky run, but a composed close that ended the way it began—by taking advantage of the opportunities that mattered most.