Steve Alker – another outstanding season for the 53 year old – image USGA
The PGA Tour Champions has now reached the playoff stage with the leading 72 players on the Schwab Cup standings after last weekend’s event, the SAS Championship at the Prestonwood Country Club in North Carolina, about to advance to the first of the three playoff events.
The three playoffs begin this Friday with the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond Virginia followed by the Simmons Bank Championship in Little Rock in Arkansas where the leading 54 players will compete, followed by the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on November 7th in which the leading 36 players will have earned the right to win the prestigious season-ending final.
Of the 72 players in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, ten are Australians along with standout New Zealander Steve Alker, currently standing in second position in the rankings behind Ernie Els.
Richard Green (4th), Greg Chalmers (21st) Mark Hensby (24th), Stuart Appleby (27th), Steve Allan (34th), Road Pampling (38th) Cameron Percy (39th), Michael Wright ( 48th), David Bransdon (56th) and John Senden ( 63rd) have also qualified to play in Richmond, keeping their hopes alive of making it to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Alker won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 2023 and is having another great season in 2024 having won one title and finished runner-up in four others.
Richard Green is the next best of the Australasians in a very impressive 4th place in the rankings and although the Victorian has yet to win an event on the PGA Tour Champions he has recorded four runner-up finishes in 2024 and continues to display a game that will surely lead to a breakthrough win before long.
