PHOENIX — Steven Alker joined a select group Sunday.
Alker shot a final-round 5-under 66 to finish in a tie second place at the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and that was enough to clinch the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup, the season-long points race on the PGA Tour Champions.
A day after shooting a 63 to tie for low round of the week, Alker carded six birdies under warm, sunny skies during the nicest day of the week at Phoenix Country Club. He battled most of the day with Richard Green for second, with Green hanging around with a shot at the season title as well. But a series of unfortunate events for Bernhard Langer on the back nine brought both men into contention for the tournament title and the points title.
Langer held a five-shot lead on the front nine but back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 10 and 11 and another on 17, after his second shot banged off a tree, brought him back to the pack.
In a span of a few minutes, Green birdied the 18th hole, Alker birdied the 17th and Langer bogeyed the 17th. Suddenly, there was a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard.
On the closing hole, Langer made a long putt for birdie to get to 18 under. Alker then needed a 10-footer of his own for birdie to force a playoff but he left it short.
In the end, it’s Langer winning the tournament and Alker winning the season-long title.
Alker joined a group of six golfers with more than one Cup title: Bernhard Langer, who won the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday for his 47th tournament title on the circuit, leads the way with six. Hale Irwin, Tom Lehman, Jay Haas, Tom Watson and Loren Roberts each have two. And now, so does Alker, who has won it twice in three seasons.
After Saturday’s round, Alker spoke about his steady play over the last three seasons.
“I think the thing I’m most proud of is to keep that consistency year to year,” he said. “To win the Schwab Cup and come back next year and I couldn’t win the Cup but I finished second, and another chance this year, that’s really pleasing and good for your confidence. Yeah, I’m really proud of the fact that I’ve kept the consistency.”
Alker picked up $276,000 for the week.
In addition to tournament prize money, there’s more cash on the line as part of the season-long Schwab race. The top five in the final points standings split $2.1 million that will be distributed in lump sum deposits into a Schwab brokerage accounts.
The breakdown:
1st: $1 million, Steven Alker
2nd: $500,00, Ernie Els
3rd: $300,000, Richard Green
4th: $200,000, Padraig Harrington
5th: $100,000, Stephen Ames
That money is considered bonus money and doesn’t count toward a player’s official career earnings.
Unlike the PGA Tour’s post-season – where the Tour Championship winner is declared the FedEx Cup champion – it’s possible to have someone win the final tournament while someone else captures the Schwab season title.
The winner of the tournament wins the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The winner of the season-long race is the Charles Schwab Cup champion.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Steven Alker wins 2024 Charles Schwab Cup, the PGA Tour Champions season-long points race
