Alker rallies at senior major; Kobori top-10
- NZ Sports Wire
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
New Zealand golfer Steven Alker has surged on the final day for a top-20 result at golf's second senior major.
Alker fired a six-under 66 in the fourth round to finish tied for 14th at the Senior PGA Championship at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland on Sunday (Monday NZ Time).
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The 53-year-old made four straight birdies on the front-nine, among six birdies and one bogey in the second-best round of the day, helping him get into red numbers and rise 24 places on the leaderboard.
After bogeying the first hole, Alker reeled off fourth straight birdies at the par-three second and third, fourth and fifth, all par-fours, to make the turn at one-over.
He added more birdies at the par-five 11th and par-four 12th to get below par for the first time since his first-nine during the opening round on Thursday (Friday NZT), before a final birdie at the par-five 16th.
Alker, who had rounds of 75, 73, 72 and 66 at Congressional, finished in solo fourth at the first senior major of 2025, the Regions Tradition, last weekend.
It was Alker's eighth top-20 finish in nine PGA Tour Champions tournaments this year, remaining second in the Schwab Cup standings behind Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Alker had the day's best round by two strokes, ahead of Dane Thomas Bjorn and Irishman Padraig Harrington, who both finished one stroke behind the winner, Argentinian Angel Cabrera.
On the Ladies European Tour, Momoka Kobori has recorded her second straight top-10 result to move to 28th in the Order of Merit.
Kobori posted an even-par 71 in the third and final round of the Ladies Open at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France to finish tied for 10th at four-under, six shots back of the winner, Czech Sara Kouskova.
Kobori aced the par-three eighth and made three other birdies, but also had three bogeys and a double-bogey. She carded rounds of 70, 68 and 71. Fellow Kiwi Wenyung Keh missed the cut by four shots after rounds of 70 and 81.
Kobori's younger brother Kazuma also had an impressive result at the DP World Tour's Soudal Open in Belgium.
Kazuma Kobori carded a one-under 70 in the final round at the Rinkven International Golf Club in Antwerp on Sunday (Monday NZT), ending in a share of 25th at five-under, eight strokes adrift.
Kobori had two early birdies and a bogey, before nine straight pars to end his round. He moved up to 67th in the DP World Tour's season-long rankings.
Kiwi Daniel Hillier, who remains sixth in the Race to Dubai Rankings, missed the weekend cut by four shots at three-over after rounds of 73 and 72.
Harry Hillier put together rounds of 72, 68, 69 and 67 to climb 10 places into a tie for 35th at eight-under, 11 shots back of the winner, at the Knoxville Open on the secondary Korn Ferry Tour in the US.
Charlie Hillier carded back-to-back one-under 71s to end in a share of 54th at the PGA Tour Americas' Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship in Colombia, which was reduced to 36 holes due to heavy rain.
At the Danish Golf Challenge on Europe's secondary HotelPlanner Tour, Taranaki's Sam Jones finished tied for 64th at one-over after rounds of 75, 67, 72 and 75. He had six birdies, two bogeys, two double-bogeys and a triple-bogey in the final round.
It was a tough time for LIV Golf player Danny Lee at the Asian Tour's Korea Open, with rounds of 83 and 72 to finish in a share of 122nd at 13-over, nine strokes away from making the cut.
