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The Mitsubishi Electric Championship, the first event of the 2024 PGA Tour Champions, is already bringing in excitement at Hualalai GC in Hawaii. Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, Darren Clarke and Jerry Kelly are among the golfers competing.
Defending champion Steve Stricker is also showcasing his full potential at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. This year's prize money for the event is set at $2,000,000 and the winner is poised to claim a whopping amount of $340,000.
It's worth mentioning that in 2023 and 2022, the event's prize money remained the same as this year. Before that period, the prize money stood at $1,800,000 from 2008.
Notably, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship's prize money has seen an increase since its inception in 1984, when the initial prize pool was $100,000, and the winner received a share of $30,000.
The tournament's first round concluded with Vijay Singh and Steven Alker securing the lead on the scoreboard with an impressive 7-under-par. They stand one stroke ahead of Steve Stricker and their fellow competitors.
Nonetheless, the four-day event will end on Sunday, January 21.
Looking back at 2023 Mitsubishi Electric Championship
The Mitsubishi Electric Championship crowned Steve Stricker as the winner in the 2023 season. The 56-year-old golfer secured a commanding six-stroke victory over competitors Steven Alker, Mike Weir, Ken Tanigawa and Darren Clarke.
Alongside claiming a $340,000 prize from the $2 million prize pool, Steve Stricker's triumph marked his twelfth career win. Notably, 2023 also proved to be a fortunate year for the American professional golfer, as he secured six victories on the PGA Tour Champions Tour, bringing his total career victories on the tour to 17.
Steve Stricker said of his win (via Golf Week):
"It was a lot of fun. To win here, I didn’t know what kind of game I had coming into this week, but it was pretty good."
Sticker further expressed his gratitude to his family and supporters and added:
"You know, everybody that’s with me is so supportive; my family, my parents I should say and my in-laws. It still keeps going, I still feel like there’s more to do and I can continue to play and play at a higher level. So it’s exciting for me still to come out here and play."
Here are the past 10 years’ winners of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship:
- Steve Stricker: 2023
- Miguel Ángel Jiménez: 2022
- Darren Clarke: 2021
- Miguel Ángel Jiménez: 2020
- Tom Lehman: 2019
- Jerry Kelly: 2018
- Bernhard Langer: 2017
- Duffy Waldorf: 2016
- Miguel Ángel Jiménez: 2015
- Bernhard Langer: 2014.
