BILOXI, Mississippi – Steven Alker cruised to his second victory on the PGA Tour Champions, shooting a 7-under 65 in the final round to win the Rapiscan Systems Classic by six shots.
Alker´s total of 18 under was a record at the event, which moved to Grand Bear Golf Club this year after 10 editions at Fallen Oak.
Padraig Harrington shot 65 to surge into a tie for second with Alex Cejka. Bob Estes, who started the day one shot back, slipped to third after shooting 71, AP reported.
Alker fired a course record 62 during the second round to take the lead, and followed it up by playing near-flawless golf to hold off an early charge from Estes.
Estes, still searching for his first victory on the 50-and-over tour at age 56, pulled even with Alker three times on the front nine but fell off the pace with a bogey at the par-4 eighth hole and couldn’t keep up when Alker ripped three straight birdies to start the back nine.
Alker ended a seven-year victory drought with a win at the TimberTech Championship in November, and didn’t record a bogey this weekend over his final 40 holes. He finished with a flourish, dropping his putter after draining a birdie on the par-4 18th.
“(My game) was there,” Alker said. “I didn´t quite have it the first day but just kind of freed it up and let it go.”
Elsewhere, J.J. Spaun won his first PGA Tour event – and his first trip to the Masters – by firing a final-round 69 at the Valero Texas Open.
In his 147th PGA Tour start, Spaun survived a double-bogey start to his round by recording five birdies with no bogeys to finish at 13-under at TPC San Antonio. It gave him a two-shot margin over Matt Kuchar (69) and Matt Jones (66).
Adam Hadwin, Beau Hossler, Charles Howell III and Troy Merritt tied for fourth at 10-under.
The 31-year-old Spaun closed with four straight pars, and no one could close in on him. His previous best finish on tour was runner-up in 2018 at the RSM Classic.
Jones missed a 3-foot par putt on the 16th, birdied the 17th and missed a 14-foot birdie putt on the final hole.
Kuchar needed a birdie on the final hole and Spaun to make bogey to force a playoff. Spaun found trouble off the tee in the left rough, but Kuchar´s second shot went into the water. Spaun reached the green of the par-5 finishing hole in three and his final putt was less than two feet.
It was a missed opportunity to get back to the Masters for Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker, who shared the lead after the first two holes. Between them, they have 26 Masters appearances, seven top 10s and each has a top-3 finish.
Snedeker finished tied for 18th after a 75.
Spaun´s double-bogey final round start before getting the victory is so rare that the last time it happened on tour came in 2008, when Tiger Woods won the US Open victory (and Woods needed a playoff the following day).
Spaun took the lead with a birdie after nailing his approach into the 11th to three feet away. Jones´ birdie at the 17th cut it to one, but Spaun answered with a birdie at the par-5 14th after getting almost pin high in the greenside bunker. He hit to nine feet and made the putt to go back to two ahead.
