Steven Alker was a life-long journeyman in his younger days — he played in 86 career PGA Tour events and never had a top 10 — he missed 47 cuts. On the European Tour, he had one top 10 in 80 starts and missed the cut 42 times.
When he turned 50 he had no status, hardly a chance to gain entry to the PGA Tour Champions circuit. But he Monday-qualified his way onto it and on Sunday, wrote the final chapter of an incredible Senior Cinderella story, winning the Charles Schwab Cup.
On Sunday at the Phoenix Country Club, Alker watched Paddy Harrington blow away the rest of the field at the Schwab Cup Championship but a solo third finish (19-under par) gave the year-long Charles Schwab Cup to Alker. Winning the year-long series title secured Alker another $1 million on top of the $210,000 he made for finishing third. His final on-course earnings, separate for the Schwab Cup bonus, were $3.5 million.
The New Zealander played the final round with Harrington, who had a spectacular week. Harrington picked up his fourth win with rounds of 66-64-62-65 and tied Jack Nicklaus’ record of 27-under par. The Irish star set the senior aggregate 72-hole mark of 257. Alex Cejka was solo second at 20-under par.
But it was Alker who introduced himself to the over-50 set with an incredibly consistent season. He finished 2022 with a 68.2 average in 75 rounds and that gave him such a big lead on the 2022 points list heading into the last event in Phoenix that he could become the season-long champion even if Harrington, the No. 2 man in the standings, won. Alker just needed to finish in the top five of the 33-player field; a closing 68 for a 19-under 265 total got the job done.
“Just a lot of hard yards,” Alker said when thinking of what he’d gone through to get to this point. “You know, I’ve played everywhere and I think that kind of helped today in a way just playing the PGA Tour and Australasia and Asia and Korn Ferry. I’ve played everywhere. It’s been an amazing journey and just to be here and to have this opportunity has been amazing.”
Charles Schwab Cup Championship Scoreboard:
