Alker win puts Kiwi in major
New Zealand will have a player at the British Open Championship for the first time since 2009.
Hamilton’s Steve Alker won the qualifying tournament in West Lancashire with rounds of 67 and 68 to finish on seven under par and win by two shots from a group of four players.
Alker had to finish in the top three to qualify for the British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes – the venue where Bob Charles won his only major title from American Phil Rodgers in 1963.
American Scott Pinckney (75, 64) and England’s Steven O’Hara (70, 69) were the other two professionals to secure a spot in the year’s third major.
Alker, 40, had five birdies in the opening seven holes to get to five under for the day. He bogeyed the ninth before adding further birdies on 10 and 12. He dropped shots on the 15th and the 18th but it didn’t matter as he booked his third start in a major championship. Alker’s last tournament victory came in 2009 when he won the New Zealand PGA Championship. He has been playing on the web.com tour, formerly the Nationwide Tour, where his best finish is a tie for fourth at the Chile Classic.
Wellingtonian Mark Brown was also in qualifying at West Lancashire. He carded rounds of 72 and 71 to finish one under par in a share of 10th. Michael Campbell, whose best result at the British Open was a tie for third in 1995, had rounds of 71 and 73 to finish on even par and in a share of 16th.