Lydia Ko and Steven Alker winners same week

Timber Tech Championship - Round Three

BOCA RATON, FL - NOVEMBER 07: Steve Alker of New Zealand poses with the trophy after he won the PGA TOUR Champions Timber Tech Championship at The Old Course at Broken Sound on November 7, 2021 in Boca Raton, FL. (Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

Steve Alker and Lydia Ko have won their respective events during the same weekend, (6-7 November 2021) and Golf New Zealand understands this is the first time multiple Kiwi’s have won on tour in the same week since 1993.

Alker won his maiden event on the Champions Tour at the TimberTech Championship, while Ko dominated the Saudi International Ladies event on the Ladies European Tour (LET) to win by five.

Alker got over the line by two over Jim Furyk and Miguel Angel Jimenez, finishing at 17-under in Boca Raton, Florida, courtesy of some of his career-best golf shooting rounds of 68, 63, and 68.

The 50-year-old has taken the Champions Tour by storm since celebrating his milestone birthday in July. After having no starts, Alker has amassed eight top-10 finishes in just nine events.

With a maiden victory narrowly eluding him to this point, Alker began the day motivated as ever, sitting in third place. He opened with four pars before making an early bogey at the fifth to fall to one-over. He made to birdies at the seventh and ninth holes to turn in on-under-par.

Alker then birdied the 11th and took the outright lead with a birdie at the par 4 15th. He made pars on 16 and 17, then finished his round in style with a birdie at the final hole.

The victory is his first in 2,709 days and sees him leap into 22nd on the Schwab Cup Points rankings from 46th place. He will now qualify for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship this week, where the top 36 golfers on the season-long points race will battle for the season’s final event.

He also locks up his card for next year.

Meanwhile, Lydia Ko put on a show at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in Saudi Arabia, finishing at 23-under-par to beat Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul by five shots at the Saudi Ladies International.

Ko fired rounds of 67, 70, 63, and 65 to dominate the event and set a new course record in the third round.

The world number seven began the day four ahead of Thitikul and immediately got into her work opening with a birdie at the first. She made further birdies at the fifth and seventh holes before making the turn in style with an eagle at the ninth to be five-under for the day.

Ko’s game remained solid coming home as she made another birdie at the 10th and again at the 13th to get to seven-under-par for the day and 16-under par over the weekend.

She parred her way in to capture the trophy and cap off a flawless round of golf. It’s her second win of the year after a four-year drought.

Ko returns to the US to play in the Pelican Women’s Championship this week.

Julianne Alvarez almost made it three New Zealand victories abroad, finishing second at the PXG Women’s Match Play Championship in Jacksonville, Florida.

Alvarez qualified for the match play portion of the event after shooting rounds of 75 and 72 to be the 15th seed.

She lined up against the number two seed Sofia Garcia in the opening round and managed to scrape through with a 1up victory to reach the quarter-finals, where she would be faced with the 10th seed, Madison Moosa.

Alvarez recovered from being down early to win 3&1, move onto the semi-finals, and go head-to-head with Elise Bradley.

She again won 1up to move onto the championship match against the number one seed, Jessica Porvasnik, who was in scintillating form all week.

The Wellington-based professional came out of the blocks hot early, making birdies in four of her opening five holes to take a 4up lead. Her opponent bounced back with a birdie of her own at the seventh, and with an Alvarez bogey at eight, the difference was two heading into the back nine.

Porvasnik made birdies at the 10th and 11th holes to square the match. They then went shot-for-shot until the 16th, where Alvarez would take the ascendency with a birdie to poke her nose back in front.

Unfortunately, she bogeyed her final hole meaning extra holes were required to decide the event.

Porvasnik prevailed, meaning Alvarez would have to settle for second place after an excellent week for the 25-year-old.

alt text

On the PGA Tour, Danny Lee has finished strong at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba to regain his tour card after playing on a medical exemption for the first few events of the new season.

Lee has carded rounds of 68, 69, 68, and 64 to finish in a share of seventh at 15-under-par, eight shots back of Viktor Hovland, who needed a new driver after Lee accidentally broke it on the driving range.

Lee was playing on a minor medical exemption and needed a good finish this week to earn enough points for him to be upgraded to a major medical exemption which would see him get starts for the remainder of the season.

He now sits in 14th place on the FedEx Cup.

David Smail has finished in a share of 16th at the Cosmohalth Cup Senior.

Smail shot rounds 69 and 73 to finish at two-under, six shots back of the winner.

Over on the Staysure Tour, Michael Campbell has finished a shot ahead of fellow countryman Michael Long at the Senior Italian Open.

Campbell finished at even-par for the event after rounds of 72, 71, and 73.

Long shot rounds of 73, 74, and 70.

Finally, Daniel Hillier has finished a tie 36th at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final held at the T Golf and Country Club in Mallorca, Spain.

Hillier carded rounds of 69, 75, 72, and 74 to finish at six-over, 14-shots back of Marcus Helligkilde, who won the event.

The 23-year-old came into the week in 18th place on the Challenge Tour Rankings, with the top 20 all earning European Tour cards.

He unfortunately dropped into 23rd, meaning he would miss out by the narrowest of margins.