Standing over his ball on the first playoff hole of a sudden-death playoff, Steven Alker knew he could win with two putts.
He needed only one.
Alker sank a 7-foot birdie on No. 18 — the second straight time playing the hole — while Y.E. Yang bogeyed to win the Rogers Charity Classic on Sunday in Calgary, Alberta, picking up his second win of the season and moving into the top five of the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
“It was a long day,” Alker said. “I was in the hunt. I would have liked to have made birdie at 18 to finish it all off. But whenever you’re in the playoff, you never know what’s going to happen. So I feel very relieved … I was behind the 8 ball and it took a while to get back. But it was very pleasing.”
The bogey was the only miscue on the back nine by either golfer, as they combined to go 11-under-par from holes 10 through 18 in regulation, each finishing the third round at 16-under 194, one stroke better than Jerry Kelly and Zach Johnson.
Yang, who teed off six groups before Alker, birdied 18 to end regulation and give him a 7-under 63 on the day. Alker, who started the day one stroke back of second-round leader Ryan Armour, shot a 5-under 65 while playing in the day’s final group.
After Kelly (63) and Johnson (65), four golfers finished tied for fifth at 13 under: South African Retief Goosen (65), Michael Block (67), Australian Richard Green (67) and Armour (69).
Brandt Jobe had the day’s low round at 62.
After tying a tournament record on Saturday with a 9-under 61 at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club, the New Zealander Alker bogeyed the par-3 fifth and par-4 seventh holes to sit at 1 over on his round Sunday. He birdied the par-4 eighth to get to even for the round, then went on a run of five birdies in six holes between Nos. 11 and 16.
Yang, from South Korea, had a much more uneventful opening nine with a birdie on the par-3 fifth. He got hot a hole earlier than Alker, making birdie at the par-4 10th — his first of three straight birdies and six total on the back nine. His birdie on 18 ultimately got him into the playoff.
Alker’s other win this season also came in a playoff, over Padraig Harrington at the Cologuard Classic in March in Tucson, Ariz. He now sits fourth in the Schwab Cup standings, more than $2.4 million behind leader Stewart Cink. Alker has 12 career wins on the PGA Tour Champions.
–Field Level Media
