Jobe, who lived in Colorado from 1970 to ’99 and won a Colorado Open, three CGA Match Plays and a CGA Amateur, tied for eighth on Saturday in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship on the Big Island in Hawaii.

Jobe (left) shot three consecutive rounds in the 60s — 69-69-68 — to post a 10-under-par 206 total, which left him seven strokes back of champion Tom Lehman, who posted back-to-back 65s to close the tourament. In Saturday’s final round, Jobe made an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys.

Jobe, 53, has now recorded 21 top-10 finishes in 65 PGA Tour Champions events, which means he hits that standard nearly a third of the time. He’s finished in the top 20 in the Schwab Cup standings each of his three full seasons on the circuit. Jobe’s lone win to date on the senior circuit came in 2017 at the Principal Charity Classic in Iowa.

For all the scores from the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, CLICK HERE.

— Second Top-20 of Clark’s PGA Tour Career: Denver native Wyndham Clark recorded the second-best finish of his young PGA Tour career on Sunday by tying for 18th place in the Desert Classic in La Quinta, Calif.

Clark, who won the 2010 CGA Amateur and the 2017 Pac-12 individual title at Boulder Country Club, posted rounds of 65-67-72-68 for a 16-under-par 272 total this week, which left him 10 strokes behind winner Adam Long.

Clark would have finished much higher, but back-to-back double bogeys on his back nine in Saturday’s third round proved costly.

Nevertheless, it was by far Clark’s best showing of the 2018-19 wraparound season. In 15 PGA Tour starts for his career, his only better finish was a 17th place at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October 2017. 

For scores from the Desert Classic, CLICK HERE.

Moreover, after the Colorado contingent entered the 2013 season having gone winless in the previous year, the locals begin 2014 after a stellar last 12 months. Players with strong Colorado ties won a remarkable five times on the Champions Tour in 2013.

Mark Wiebe (pictured) of Aurora claimed two titles, including the Senior British Open in a five-hole playoff. Former Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo won twice as a Champions Tour rookie. And Craig Stadler of Evergreen established the record for the longest time between Champions Tour victories (8 years, 9 months — and 171 starts) when he won the Encompass Championship in June.

Joining Wiebe, Toledo and Stadler in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship field will be former University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin and former Cherry Creek High School golfer Mike Reid. Also competing are Tom Lehman, who won the 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club, and Willie Wood, who captured the 1984 Colorado Open title.

The MEC field is limited to 2012 and 2013 tournament champions, winners of Champions Tour majors from the past five years and special invitees. The tournament runs Friday through Sunday at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Hualalai Course on Hawaii’s Big Island.

While Irwin hasn’t won in seven years, the three-time U.S. Open champion can’t be dismissed as a title contender, even though he’s 68 years old and is beginning his 47th tour season.

One reason is that with just 41 players competing this weekend, there are fewer to beat. In addition, the MEC is where Irwin won the last of his record 45 Champions Tour titles. And the Boulder High School graduate loves the Aloha State. He’s won nine official tour events in Hawaii, including eight Champions Tour tournaments and two MEC titles.

Beside, the World Golf Hall of Famer is already the oldest champion in the history of the event (61 years, 7 months in 2007). This week marks the 19th consecutive year Irwin has competed in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship (or its previous incarnations) — far and away the longest stretch in the field.

Last year, Irwin finished a season-best ninth in the MEC.
 

There is a reason Hale Irwin, Craig Stadler and Mark Wiebe — three players with strong Colorado ties — are in the limited field for this weekend’s Mitsubushi Electric Championship on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The event, which runs Friday through Sunday (Jan. 18-20) marks the season opener for the 26-tournament Champions Tour schedule in 2013. The MEC is restricted to winners on the Champions Tour the last two seasons, senior major champions since 2008, and several sponsor exemptions (all with at least 15 career victories, including a minimum of one major title).

Irwin (pictured), the former University of Colorado athlete who grew up in Boulder, has become a fixture at this event. He’s playing in the tournament for a record 18th consecutive time, he’s won it twice (1997 and 2007), he remains the oldest champion in tournament history (61 years, 7 months in ’07), and he’s the oldest player in the field this week, at age 67.

The three-time U.S. Open champion, who’s beginning his 46th season as a tour pro, also has quite a history in Hawaii. Irwin has won nine official tour events in the state, including eight as a Champions Tour player.

When the World Golf Hall of Famer prevailed in what was then known as the MasterCard Championship in 2007 — he used a 10-under-par 62 in the second round en route to winning by five strokes — it was the last of his record 45 Champions Tour victories. That’s 16 more wins than the No. 2 player on the Champions win list, Lee Trevino.

And it’s not as if Irwin is now just a ceremonial golfer. He finished 37th on the 2012 Champions Tour money list after placing 27th in 2011. And last spring, he ended up third in the Senior PGA Championship, one of the Champions Tour majors.

As for Stadler, the 1982 Masters champion will be making his eighth appearance in the Champions season opener. The Evergreen resident, 59, has won eight times on the Champions circuit, but the last of those was in 2004, when he posted five victories.

Wiebe, who like Irwin is a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, has been a model of consistency in his Champions Tour career, which includes three wins. In each of his first five full seasons on the circuit, Wiebe has finished in the top 30 on the season-long money list. He ended up 23rd in 2012.
 

PGATour.com, the official web site for the PGA, Champions and Nationwide tours, recently published its list of the “top 25 players to watch in 2012” on the Champions circuit.

Former University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin gained a spot, at No. 13, despite being 66 years old. But another player with strong Colorado connections seemed notable by his absence.

Aurora resident Mark Wiebe finished a career-best 16th on the 2011 Champions Tour money list — marking his fourth straight top-30 showing — and won a tournament, yet he was nowhere to be found in pgatour.com’s top 25 for 2012.

But there are some extenuating circumstances that may have figured into the rankings. Specifically, Wiebe underwent back surgery on Nov. 7, the day after the 2011 Champions Tour season ended.  The microdiscectomy was performed to alleviate a herniated disc problem that was causing pain in Wiebe’s lower right leg.

Wiebe, who won his third Champions Tour event last June, couldn’t swing a club for most of the last eight weeks of 2011. Nevertheless, he’s scheduled to play in the Champions Tour season opener, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, which runs Friday through Sunday (Jan. 20-22) in Hawaii.

This isn’t the first time Wiebe has undergone surgery since joining the Champions Tour in 2007. He had a knee operation in February 2008, yet recovered quickly enough to win a Tour event a couple of months later.

The latest situation with Wiebe marks the second consecutive season that a Colorado-based Champions Tour player has undergone significant surgery late in the year, followed by a layoff from the game. Evergreen resident Craig Stadler had hip replacement surgery in September 2010 before returning last year.

Wiebe is coming off a memorable season on the Champions Tour. His playoff victory in the Greater Hickory Classic ended a win drought of more than three years — and it came on the same day he was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Later that same month, Wiebe placed third in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, and subsequently was named Champions Tour Player of the Month for June.

With five top-five finishes overall for the year, Wiebe accumulated $961,652 in prize money in 2011. In his first four full seasons on the Champions circuit, he’s ended up 17th, 19th, 29th and 16th on the money list.

Wiebe isn’t the only player with significant Colorado ties opening his Champions Tour season this week in Hawaii. Also in the 41-man field are Irwin and Castle Rock’s Gary Hallberg.

Despite turning 66 last year, Irwin had his best Champions Tour season since 2007. The World Golf Hall of Famer posted seven top-10 finishes — a record for a player his age — including fourth-place showings in two senior majors, the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior PGA Championships.

Irwin, far and away the player with the most career Champions Tour victories (45), ended up 27th on the 2011 money list and shot his age twice in competitive rounds.

The three-time U.S. Open champion has won nine official PGA Tour-sanctioned events in Hawaii, including eight on the Champions Tour. He’s claimed the Mitsubishi Electric Championship title twice, in 1997 and 2007, and has played in the event 17 straight years.

Meanwhile, Hallberg finished 2011 on a high note by placing second in the final stage of Champions Tour qualifying. After winning his first Champions Tour title in October 2010, Hallberg ended up 48th on the 2011 money list.