Steven Alker finished the PGA Tour Champions season atop the points standings.
A week later, he finished on top of the leaderboard in the first event of the postseason.
Alker chased down first- and second-round leader Jerry Kelly on Sunday at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, shooting a 4-under 68 to claim the first event of the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs by a shot.
Alker has now won four times on the senior circuit in 2022, tying Steve Stricker for the most this season. Stricker skipped the event this week and is also skipping the next one.
Alker opened with a birdie Sunday but bogeyed the eighth hole to make the turn at even par for the day. He birdied the 10th to start his back nine and then posted consecutive birdies on Nos. 15, 16 and 17 to move into the lead at 14 under.
“It was kind of a dogfight down there at the end,” he said. “I was trying not to look at the leaderboard, because there was so many guys just trying to win this golf tournament.”
Alker now has five wins and 24 top 10s in 31 total events on the PGA Tour Champions.
Sunday’s chilly temperatures didn’t seem to faze him much.
“It was just that kind of golf where the ball wasn’t traveling and just like playing in California, like Pebble Beach,” he said. “Just club up and try and hit some quality shots down the stretch.”
K.J. Choi shot a 5-under 67 to finish in solo second. Kelly closed with a 72 to finish tied for third with Doug Barron and Padraig Harrington at 12 under. Ernie Els and Brian Gay tied for sixth at 11 under.
The round of the day was posted by Rocco Mediate, who shot an 8-under 64 to zoom up the leaderboard and tie for eighth at 10 under.
Bernhard Langer, who was the two-time defending champion at the Dominion and is a six-time Schwab Cup Playoffs winner, finished in a tie for 14th at 8 under.
The playoffs consist of three events with the top 72 players qualified for the Dominion. Four players—Fred Couples, Stricker, Brandt Jobe and Mike Weir—chose to skip it.
Next up is the TimberTech Championship in two weeks at the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida, Nov. 4-6. The top 54 finishers from the Dominion will advance to that event, where Alker is the defending champion.
Scott McCarron was 54th before the Dominion and remains 54th, so he will advance. David Branshaw is the first man out; he was 57th a week ago and could only climb two spots to 55th at the Dominion.
Other notables whose seasons are now over include Jay Haas (60), John Daly (68), Tom Lehman (83) and David Duval (86).
After the TimberTech, the top 36 will move on to the season finale at Phoenix Country Club in Arizona for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Nov. 10-13. Phil Mickelson won that event a year ago.
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