Golf: Steven Alker misses out on second straight PGA Champions Tour win after playoff blunder

Steven Alker of New Zealand during the final round of the ClubCorp Classic. Photo / Getty Images

A disastrous playoff hole has cost Steven Alker a second straight win on the PGA Champions Tour.

Scott Parel two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th hole for a six-under 65, and then went on to win the inaugural ClubCorp Classic with a par on the same hole in a playoff for his second Champions Tour title.

Parel won a three-man playoff at Las Colinas over Alker and Gene Sauers, who both went into the hazard on the closing hole and failed to make par.

Alker had a two-stroke lead heading into the final round and looked good to take out his second Tour win on the trot, following his dominant victory at the Rapiscan Systems Classic by six shots earlier this month.

However, the 50-year-old Kiwi's hot form cooled towards the end of his final round as he lost his commanding lead to end up in a three-way playoff with Parel and Sauers.

Sauers birdied his last two holes in regulation for a 63. In the playoff, his shot bounced back into the rocks. After a penalty drop, he chipped to 8 feet and his par putt to extend the layoff caught the edge of the cup and spun out.

Alker had reason to feel even worse. After a double bogey to start the final round, he ran off seven birdies over his next nine holes and reached 12 under through 10 to seize control. But he never made another birdie, dropping a shot on the par-3 13th with a three-putt bogey.

On the final hole in regulation, Alker was just long and off the green and chipped down to 8 feet. Lee Janzen putted first from the same line and made birdie for a 67 to finish one shot out of the playoff.

Alker's birdie missed. He shot 68 and joined the playoff at 11-under 202.

On the first extra hole, Alker had a long iron from a good lie in the rough but it came out heavy and into the water. He took a penalty drop and couldn't get up and down.

"I'm glad to win a playoff — I'm 0-3 in these things," Parel said. "I was fortunate both the guys didn't hit the best second shots. I was just trying to get it over here and try to get up and down, which in the end turned out to be the right play."

In the celebrity division, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was on the verge of winning the Stableford scoring until he hit into the hazard on the 18th and made bogey, while former tennis player Mardy Fish made birdie. They finished at 106 points, and Fish won the playoff when Romo again went into the hazard and Fish made birdie.

- with AP