Alker wins by 2 shots in Boca

Steven Alker capped off an amazing three months by winning for the first time on the PGA Tour Champions, closing with a 4-under-par 68 for a twoshot victory Sunday in the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton.

Alker turned 50 in late July and had to qualify for a chance to even play. He tied for seventh in his first event to earn a spot in the next tournament. Each week he kept finishing in the top 10 to advance.

And now he’s going to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship next week.

Alker’s victory easily moved him into the top 36 of players in the Schwab Cup to advance to the season finale in Phoenix.

Alker holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole to take the lead, and then finished with a birdie to win by two over Jim Furyk and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Alker won $305,000, pushing his total to $896,207 in just nine tournaments since he qualified for the Boeing Classic outside Seattle in his Champions debut.

That’s more than the Kiwi made in his entire career on the PGA Tour, which featured only three full seasons as he toiled on the Australasian and European tours and spent a fair bit of his time in America on what now is the Korn Ferry Tour.

PGA TOUR

Viktor Hovland won again on the PGA Tour, this time without a clutch finish. The Norwegian star was too dominant to give anyone else a chance in the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Hovland seized control with three birdies on the front nine, and never let Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas or anyone else get closer than three shots the rest of the way.

He closed with a 4under 67 for a four-shot win over Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, making him the first repeat winner since Mayakoba began in 2007.

Hovland won last year with a birdie putt on the final hole for a one-shot victory. He also made birdie on his last hole when he won the Puerto Rico Open in the spring of 2020.

Hovland finished at 23-under 261 and moved to No. 10 in the world ranking.

Ortiz made a 30-foot par putt after a plugged lie in the bunker on the 18th for a 66 to finish alone in second, a difference of $144,000 if he had twoputted for bogey and tied with Thomas, who also saved for on 18 for a 69.

The strongest challenge came from Scheffler, who twice got within three shots until an errant drive on No. 16 led to double bogey. He shot 66 and finished fourth.

EUROPEAN TOUR

Thomas Pieters of Belgium closed with a 3-under 68 to win the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura for his first European Tour victory since 2019. Pieters, who played in 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, won for the fifth time on the European Tour, and his firs since the Czech Masters two years ago.

He finished at 19-under 265 at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, two shots ahead of Matthieu Pavon of France and Denmark’s

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