To think it all started at a Monday qualifier 15 months ago.

Thirty-two events and $4,710,612 later, Steven Alker has reached new heights. On Sunday, he clinched his first PGA Tour Champions series title at Phoenix Country Club, punctuating his win with a big smile and a fist pump on the 18th green.

Alker shot a final-round 68 to finish solo third, which was a whopping eight shots back of tournament winner Padraig Harrington, but still good enough to clinch the series title for the first time. With a Harrington win, any finish inside the top five would have been good enough for Alker.

“Amazing. Honestly, just having friends and family and the support here this week has been amazing,” said Alker, who has lived in Arizona since 2002. “Playing with Padraig today, it was kind of difficult because ‘Do I chase him, do I protect?’ … I just tried to play my game as good as I could, but he played amazing and just glad to be champion.”

This moment is the culmination of a rapid-fire success rate for Alker since joining the senior circuit.

In 2021, 18 days after he turned 50 which made him eligible for the PGA Tour Champions, Alker flew to Seattle looking for an outside shot at getting into the Boeing Classic. He got in thanks a strong Monday qualifier score, a rout he had to take because he had no status on the tour.

He hasn’t played in a PGA Tour event since 2017 and he spent the majority of his pro career slogging through Korn Ferry Tour events. According to Harrington, Alker grinding on the Korn Ferry Tour into his late 40s is what most likely set the table for his amazing run now.

“The fact is he was always a nice player,” Harrington said Wednesday before the championship got started. “He’s probably as physically fit now as he was 20 years ago, so he hasn’t gone backwards. The players who tend to do nicely out here are the ones who are still trying to be competitive from 45 years of age to 50 years of age. Those are the ones. You can’t give the game up for five years or eight years or 10 years and hope to come out here and find it again, you know, unless you were a world-class player. You’ve got to keep being competitive and he did that. That’s why you’re seeing his good play now. He was still on the Korn Ferry Tour when he was 49 years of age. There’s not a lot of guys at 49 who could do that.”

Rounds of 67-73-67 in his first Champions event netted him a tie for seventh in the 2021 Boeing Classic, and that would be it for his Monday qualifying days as that top-10 finish earned him a spot in the field the next week at the Ally Challenge, where he finished solo third. From there, he kept getting into more Champions events because he kept stacking up top-10s.

In fact, he posted six straight top-10s and earned a spot in the 2021 Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. In the second of the two playoff events last year, Alker found victory lane at the TimberTech Championship. A second-place finish at Phoenix Country Club the following week capped a whirlwind stretch and put $1,146,207 into his bank account.

The calendar change to 2022 didn’t slow him down. Alker won three times before June 1 and then won for a series-tying fourth time to open the Schwab playoffs.

By the time they got to Phoenix, Alker had a commanding lead in the points race. Even Harrington’s blistering weekend scores of 62 and 65 had no bearing on the steady Alker. He didn’t make a bogey until the 12th hole Sunday. He had another one on 13 but then birdied the 14th. A birdie on the 16th was his 21st of the week.

Alker’s third-place finish is worth $210,000, bringing his 2022 total $3,544,425 and career total to $4,710,632.

“Just a lot of hard yards. It’s just, you know, I’ve played everywhere, 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,” he said. “I’ve played everywhere. It’s been an amazing journey and just to be here and to have this opportunity has been amazing.”

Now it’s time to celebrate, but how?

“I like red wine,” he said. “I don’t want to mix drinks tonight, won’t be a good idea, but we’ll have a couple. It will probably sink in a bit more tomorrow, but yeah, this is neat, it’s so cool.”

Alker will also collect $1 million in bonus money for winning the Schwab Cup series title, money that will be paid out as a lump sum deposit into a Schwab brokerage account.

  Article By: Todd Kelly 

Date Published: November 13th, 2022

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Phil Mickelson didn’t want to “detract from what’s happening this week” at LIV Golf’s Team Championship in Miami at Trump National Doral, but a recent Rory McIlroy interview with the Guardian was too juicy to avoid.

At a press conference ahead of the upstart circuit’s season finale, Mickelson was complimentary of McIlroy, who said the “us versus them” dynamic between LIV Golf and players on the PGA and DP World tours has gotten out of control.

“You know, I think a lot of Rory. I really have the utmost respect for him, and I look at what he’s done in the game and how he’s played this year and his win last week and No. 1 in the world now, and I have a ton of respect for him,” said Mickelson. “We’ll have three months off after this event to talk about things like that and so forth, but this week something is happening that I don’t want to deflect focus on, which is we’ve never had a team event like this in professional golf.”

McIlroy also took exception to Mickelson’s recent comment that LIV Golf is trending upwards and the PGA Tour is trending downwards, calling that statement “propaganda.”

“But just — maybe I shouldn’t have said stuff like that, I don’t know,” responded Mickelson, “but if I’m just looking at LIV Golf and where we are today to where we were six, seven months ago and people are saying this is dead in the water, and we’re past that, and here we are today, a force in the game that’s not going away, that has players of this caliber that are moving professional golf throughout the world and the excitement level in the countries around the world of having some of the best players in the game of golf coming to their country and competing. It’s pretty remarkable how far LIV Golf has come in the last six, seven months. I don’t think anybody can disagree with that.”

The Greg Norman-led operation receives its financial backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, where no expense has been spared. Building a new golf series certainly isn’t easy, and LIV has done well to attract a few of golf’s biggest names like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith. But the problems that come with building a startup become less challenging when you’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars to throw around. According to Sports Illustrated, LIV Golf’s first-year expenditure totaled upwards of $784 million, with another $1 billion committed for next year, when the series becomes a 14-event league.

As for excitement levels across the world, so far LIV has held seven events: Four in the United States, one in England, one in Thailand and one in Saudi Arabia.

McIlroy also said he felt “betrayal” in regards to LIV players putting their Ryder Cup futures in jeopardy, noting how Graeme McDowell had a chance to captain the Europeans in 2027 and the legacies of Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are mainly based around the biennial bash against the Americans.

“A betrayal? We can still qualify for the team as far as I’m aware. Unless we’ve been told we can’t qualify, then I’m still ready to play as much as I possibly can and try to make that team,” said Poulter. “I mean, look, my commitment to the Ryder Cup I think goes before me. I don’t think that should ever come in question. I’ve always wanted to play Ryder Cups and have played with as much passion as anyone else that I’ve ever seen play a Ryder Cup.

“You know, I don’t know where that comment really has come from, to be honest.”

 Article By: Adam Woodard 

Date Published: October 26, 2022

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There are any number of remarkable numbers that tell the story of the stunning round Fred Couples played on Sunday at the SAS Championship, but we’ll start with the most important: 60. The World Golf Hall of Famer had never shot a score that low in his 2,172 rounds on the PGA Tour or his 420 previous rounds on the PGA Tour Champions.

Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Brooke Henderson among big names at Saudi-backed Aramco event at Trump Ferry Point

The stars will be out in New York this week as the Aramco Team Series heads to Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point. Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson and Brooke Henderson headline the Ladies European Tour event on U.S. soil. The LPGA does not have a tournament this week and heads next to South Korea.

Charley Hull, who recently won on the LPGA in Texas, clinched last year’s Aramco event in New York at Glen Oaks Club. The Englishwoman is among the field of 78 that includes fellow past and current Solheim Cup players such as Leona Maguire, Carlota Ciganda, Anna Nordqvist, Madelene Sagstrom, Catriona Matthew and Dame Laura Davies.

Also in the field is Sweden’s Maja Stark, the LPGA rookie who earned her card via victory at the ISPS Handa World Invitational. Stark has won three times on the LET this season.

The Aramco Series carries points for World Rankings and the Race to Costa del Sol, a season-long race that determines the LET’s top golfer.

Golf Saudi backs six of events on the LET schedule. The tournaments, backed by the Public Investment Fund, remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.

Former World No. 1 Nelly Korda won the Aramco Team Series event at Sotogrande in Spain in August while big sister Jessica won the team portion. The series consists of five events, with the final being held next month in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In New York, the 54-hole individual stroke play event will take place alongside the 36-hole team event, with each tournament having a purse of $500,000.

Golf Channel will air the event live on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It will also be streamed on GolfChannel.com and the NBC Sports app.

Article By: Beth Ann Nichols

Date Published: October 11, 2022 

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Dusek: LIV Golf is wreaking havoc on equipment endorsement deals. 

More than a century before Instagram Reels, Twitter takeovers and highly-polished YouTube videos started being made, Harry Vardon signed a deal with Spalding. The company paid him to tour the United States and play scores of exhibition matches using the brand new Vardon Flyer golf ball. That made Vardon, the winner of six British Opens, one of the first golf influencers.

In the years after he inked that deal in 1900, pros from Gene Sarazen to Jack Nicklaus to Joaquín Niemann have been signing lucrative sponsorship agreements with golf equipment companies.

The model for endorsement deals has not changed much since Vardon’s day. Companies pay players and supply them with equipment and technical assistance in exchange for the right to use their name, image and likeness in advertisements and commercials.

Players also agree to be involved in photo shoots, be available for a negotiated number of corporate functions and wear the brand’s logo on their bag, hat or shirt. Incentive clauses for things like winning a PGA Tour event, a major championship, finishing first on tour in driving distance and making a Ryder Cup team are also common.

Fulfilling the contracts is usually easy for pros because they just need to play golf, smile, shake a few hands and stay out of trouble, but with the emergence of the LIV Series, brands are being forced to reevaluate their marketing plans and reassess the value of players.

Well past the midway point of the 2022 season, Scottie Scheffler was on an absolute heater. While that victory pace may have cooled over the final couple months, Scheffler capped a dream season Saturday by capturing the 2022 PGA Tour Player of the Year award. Scheffler, 26, received the nod from his peers -- the award is voted on by other PGA Tour players -- over Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith after picking up four wins at tournaments that ranked among the top 12 worldwide in strength of field.

Scheffler opened with wins at the Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play before acquiring his first career major championship victory at the Masters. In winning four tournaments across six starts, Scheffler became the top-ranked golfer in the world and ended the season with more money earned on the PGA Tour across a single season than any golfer in history ($14.05 million). Among other earnings, he also picked up $5.75 million in FedEx Cup bonus funds and $4 million from the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 to capture a grand total of $24.8 million this season.

Receiving 89% of the votes over McIlroy and Smith, his award was announced Saturday on ESPN's "College GameDay." Scheffler, a former golfer at Texas, was honored ahead of the Longhorns' Week 2 college football game against No. 1 Alabama.

McIlroy, a three-time winner of this award, was also a three-time winner on the PGA Tour this season with his victories coming at the CJ Cup last fall and then over the summer at the RBC Canadian Open in June and in dramatic fashion to conclude the season at the Tour Championship where he topped Scheffler to pocket $18 million. That final win at a huge-money event felt like a culmination of McIlroy's incredible season, one in which he posted top-eight finishes at all four majors including the Masters (2nd), PGA Championship (8th), U.S. Open (T5) and Open Championship (3rd). He ended the year with $28 million more in his bank account between tournament earnings, FedEx Cup bonuses and the Comcast Business Top 10 payout.

"Scottie Scheffler is going to win the Player of the Year," said McIlroy after beating him at the Tour Championship. "There's no doubt about that. You know, it would have been fitting for him to end his breakout season with a FedEx Cup title. I think he ... deserves this maybe more than I deserve it. He played an unbelievable season. He didn't have his best stuff today, and I played well and took advantage of that.

Read more on this article!

Article By: By Kyle Porter

Date Published: Sep 10, 2022 

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On Sunday, LIV Golf delivered the chaotic finish it has been promising

It’s taken months for LIV Golf to deliver what it has long promised to bring to the golf world, but it finally arrived Sunday: the first LIV Golf playoff, a highlight for one of the best golfers in the world and, before that, an hour of absolutely chaotic golf. 

Thanks to its everyone-on-the-course-at-once nature, the ending of LIV Golf’s Boston Invitational saw a host of its best players sprinting to the finish. There was Cameron Smith, the No. 2 player in the world and perhaps the most polarizing LIV commit to date. There was Dustin Johnson, two-time major winner and the biggest fish to join at its launch. There was Lee Westwood carding the best round of his season, and Anirban Lahiri nearly making eagle to win the event and Joaquin Niemann, another recent signee, trying to finish what he started. All around them were thousands of lubricated fans, creating a boisterous setting at The International Golf Club. Mix it all up in a blender, and that’s exactly what LIV wants to serve at its cookouts.

It was Lahiri who who locked up a score of 15 under first, about 10 minutes before the others. Then came Niemann, who preceded Johnson by only a couple minutes. When Johnson got up and down for a par to earn his spot in the playoff, it figured to be a lengthy one that dragged into the night. They’d play the par-5 18th as many times as necessary to crown a champion. 

Just seconds later, at least according to the TV broadcast, Westwood stood over his par putt on the 3rd hole, in a completely different part of the course, and for the first time the balance of a tournament hung in the air somewhere other than the 18th hole. Deeply important shots, just seconds apart, adding immediate context to this sprinting format. It’s unlike pro golf as we’ve known it, and it’s still imperfect. You weren’t always sure what hole was a par-4 or a par-5, and it isn’t always obvious whether it was a putt for birdie or a par-saver, but the goods are being served constantly. Do you like this golfy chaos? That’s up to you. 

Rich wasn’t speaking for for LIV Golf, as he was quickly ushered off the broadcast, nor the PGA Tour, which was off this week before a new season begins later this month. But he did seem to represent the fans at the Boston event. They were as loud and discordant as any LIV event we’ve seen thus far. That’s LIV’s motto: Golf, but Louder. Do you like it? That’s up to you.

The three-man playoff lasted only a few more shots, which was probably best for all. Niemann failed to give himself a birdie chance, and though Lahiri had a 3-foot birdie attempt waiting for him, he didn’t even get the chance to try it. Johnson took that away when he rammed in a 40-foot bomb for eagle. It smashed into the back of the cup, popped up and then dropped into the jar. Playoff over. The fans and the announcers went wild. It doesn’t matter what tour that happens on — most everyone is going to love it.

Lahiri couldn’t be angry. Nor could Niemann. They both smiled and dapped up DJ. They were both also set to make more money than they ever have before. 

To this point, LIV Golf finishes have exclusively been about that one thing: cash. Charl Schwartzel made a quiet bogey in London to finish a wire-to-wire victory in the inaugural event. The focus afterward largely was on his winnings. Branden Grace won by two in Portland, and it never really felt that close. Henrik Stenson won the New Jersey iteration of LIV Golf by two as well. There seemingly were no nervy shots along the way, only Stenson preparing a jab for the cameras about having his Ryder Cup captaincy taken from him. Through three events, the talk was mostly about the money, little about the shots, even less about the courses and holes the winning was happening on. That flipped, if only slightly, Sunday night in Massachusetts. 

Do you like it? That’s up to you. The next LIV event is just 12 days from now.

Article By: BY: SEAN ZAK (GOLF.COM EDITOR)

Date Posted: SEPTEMBER 4, 2022

Reference: Article Link

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Who's in, who's out of the FedEx Cup top 30 and the Tour Championship

When Sahith Theegala finished his final round at the BMW Championship, he was projected to qualify as one of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup points standings. But there were too many players still on the course for him to celebrate.

“It would mean the world to make the Tour Championship and stand along 29 of the other best golfers in the world,” he said.

“A dream season,” is how Theegala, who a year ago was sweating out getting into the Korn Ferry Tour Finals when he boarded a plane for Boise not knowing whether he was in the field.

He entered Sunday sitting on the bubble and knowing what he had to do. That sort of pressure can do funny things to some golfers.

“I was like, I’m in 30th place out of 70 people, and I’m as nervous as if I were near the lead,” he said. “I had a little bit of the shakes warming up. I couldn’t hold my hands still.”

Theegala made birdie at the first hole to settle the nerves temporarily, but as he put it, his round was “a wild ride.”

He was one over for the day through 11 holes when strung together three straight birdies and then drained a 37-foot birdie at 17. Still, he’d hit only 1 of 14 fairways all day, dead last in the field, and tried something different, anything to find a fairway.

“I don’t know why I tried to hit a draw. My natural shot is a cut. Tried to draw a 5-wood, and it started 20 yards right of my target and then cut, so I hit it 50 right,” Theegala said.

He caught a good lie in order to slice one up near the green, but left himself a 7-foot par putt that was worth at least $500,000 – last place money next week when the rich get richer.

“That was such a grind,” he said after drilling the putt to shoot 3-under 68 and finish T-15. 

His “dream season” continues another week as he improved to No. 28 in the FedEx Cup points standings, one of two rookies along with Cameron Young to make it to Atlanta and East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship.

“It’s another step for me to feel like I really belong because I still don’t feel like I’m really there at the top of the game,” he said.

Next week, he’ll be alongside 29 of the best in the world.

Here’s a look at others who are in the field at the Tour Championship and those who aren’t:

Scott Stallings – IN

K.H. Lee – IN

Adam Scott – IN

Aaron Wise – IN

Shane Lowry – OUT

Trey Mullinax – OUT

By: Adam Schupak

Link to article

August 21, 2022

How Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns propelled each other to PGA TOUR success

Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns held the top two spots in the FedExCup standings for much of the season.

Published By:
By Sean Martin ,  PGATOUR.COM 

August 15, 2022