DES MOINES, Iowa — Stephen Ames, Steve Stricker and Tim Herron shuffled around the green at the 18th hole, calculating the best strategy to finish off the Principal Charity Classic on Sunday.
Ames — who teed off the final hole with a one-stroke lead — knew he had secured the win when Stricker missed his putt, and the 2021 Principal Charity Classic winner was relieved to avoid a playoff for the trophy.
“The fact that Steve (Stricker) missed his putt, I knew we weren’t going to a playoff,” Ames said. “In the past, Steve would’ve made the putt on 15, 16 and here. Fortunately for me, it worked out that way.”
Ames finished 17-under for the week after scores of 66-66-67–200. The Canadian birdied four holes on the front nine and two in the back, which gave Ames the padding needed to pull off the win, even with a bogey on No. 14.
The win at the Wakonda Club marked the third PGA Tour Champions win of the season for Ames, who came out on top in the Trophy Hassan II in February and Mitsubishi Electric Classic in May.
The Principal Charity Classic victory was Ames’ second win on this tour in less than a month. He claimed the winner’s purse of $300,000, which brings his total Charles Schwab Cup winnings to $1,138,164. He was ranked fourth ahead of the PCC, with three top-10 finishes, including his two victories and a ninth-place finish in the Insperity Invitational.
“Everything,” Ames said when asked what was working well right now. “At this stage, it’s the same things I was doing last year…and maybe the putter’s a little warmer at times.”
He held on for the win, but Sunday’s round was Ames’ highest score of the competition. Fortunately for Ames, the other leaders struggled, as well.
Stricker, who won last week at the Senior PGA, had a bogey-free day but he only birdied four times, two in the front nine, two in the back nine.
Stricker has two PGA Tour Champions major wins in 2023 – the Regions Tradition and the Senior PGA Championship – and has three wins in all this year, including the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in January.
“It was a battle today, there’s no doubt about that,” Ames said. “Steve obviously, the way he’s played this year already tells you that it was going to be a good battle. And the fact that I ended up on top is more fulfilling than anything else right now.”
Herron, who entered the final round tied for the lead, slipped a bit on Sunday. He had three bogeys across the first five holes and dropped eight places to finish ninths.
Others outside of the leader group had successful performances, but they weren’t enough to get past Ames’ advantage. Richard Green finished with the best score of the day (63), and a few others — Miguel Angel Jiménez, Marco Dawson and Ken Duke — scored a 64 on the final round.
Defending champion Jerry Kelly was fifth in the standings after two rounds and tied Stricker for second. He avoided bogeys while picking up seven birdies to score a 65 on the final round.
But the players who crept into the top-three or moved up in the standings might not have had a chance to win if the Steves had anything to do with it.
A Stephen (or Steve or Steven) has won the last five PGA Tour Champions events and seven of the last 12 tournaments on the circuit this season. Steven Alker won the Insperity Invitational in April, and Ames and Sticker have each won two of the last four.
It’s a group that Ames is happy to be a part of.
“Popular names, I don’t know. I have no clue what’s working for the Steves, but nice fun fact, though.”
