3-under par: Stellar year for Kiwi trio
Steven Alker’s done it already, Lydia Ko is on the brink and Ryan Fox has to beat world No 1 Rory McIlroy.
The trio of Kiwis have been killing it on the world stage, making 2022 a golden era – arguably the best ever – for the sport in New Zealand.
If Ko and Fox can match Alker, this weekend, in winning their tour champion gongs for the LPGA and DP World Tours, the word ‘arguably’ can be cut from above statement.
Sir Bob Charles’ British and Michael Campbell’s US Open victories, and Lydia Ko’s two major championships, were iconic weeks in New Zealand’s sporting history but never before have three Kiwis simultaneously been in the conversation for champions of three separate and significant tours.
Alker, one of the best feel-good sporting stories in the country this year, finished third in the final event of the PGA Tour Champions – the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix on Monday – to top the year’s money list and earn himself a $1.63 million bonus as the Tour’s top money earner.
From serial battler to greatness in 12 months, Alker has had an incredible debut year on the PGA Tour Champions which has seen him win four tournaments and claim 19 top-10 finishes in 24 events for prizemoney of $7.44m – including the bonus.
By the end of this weekend, he could be joined by both Ko and Fox as tour champions.
It’s a tall ask for Fox and Ko needs her newfound 2022 consistency to last four more rounds but here is how they can convert this weekend into Kiwi golfing folklore.
Ko, the world No 3, will complete her standout season at the CME Group Tour Championship. The final event on the LPGA calendar is worth $7m, with the winner banking $3.25m – the largest winner’s prize pool in the history of women’s golf.
Thanks to Ko’s super solid year, the Kiwi ace starts the tournament, at the Tiburo´n Golf Club in Naples, Florida, as the leader in the Race to the CME Globe, the Rolex Player of the Year and the Vare Trophy.
Both the CME Globe and the
Player of the Year standings are calculated by separate points systems from all 31 LPGA events across the year.
Ko (150) leads the Player of the Year standings by one point over Minjee Lee, with a 20-point gap back to Brooke Henderson and Ko’s first-round playing partner this week, Atthaya Thitikul.
A victory for Ko in the CME Group Tour Championship would wrap up all three accolades but there are many permutations that could see her land one or all of the prestigious awards.
But it’s not just sweeping the three biggest gongs of the year that Ko is playing for. Both the Player of the Year and Vare Trophy winner earn an LPGA Hall of Fame point.
If Ko, who already has 22 points, was to win both, she would be just three short of the 27 needed to be an automatic inductee.
For Fox to win the seasonlong points race on the DP World Tour, claim the Harry Vardon Trophy and move to the No 1 ranked player, he needs to finish ahead of McIlroy at this week’s $16.2m tournament at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.
Fresh from his second placing behind Tommy Fleetwood in the Nedbank Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, South Africa, Fox is winding down what is arguably the best year of his career in the final DP event of the year.
Mathematically seven players can scoop the order of merit award but the other five – Matt Fitzpatrick, Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Adrian Meronk – all need to win or finish second and rely on McIlroy and Fox finishing down the leaderboard.