Golf: Steven Alker one round away from becoming the $7m man

Steven Alker...what a year. Photo / Getty

Senior sensation Steven Alker is on the verge of becoming the seven-million-dollar man in 2022, as he came up with the goods yet again in the final tournament of the year.

The Kiwi golfer’s earnings will go over that figure this season if he can hold on to a top-five position in the final PGA Champions Tour event, being played in Phoenix.

The 51-year-old Alker is set to beat a host of famous names and become the PGA senior champion, in his first full season on the tour.

The only challenger to the crown is Padraig Harrington, and the Irishman put on a brilliant burst in the third round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Harrington shot a round of nine-under par and leads the second-placed Alker by five shots going into the final round. Alker’s task will be to stay in the top five to ensure he pips Harrington overall.

“Padraig kicked my ass, that’s basically what happened,” Alker said. “He had a nice round, just kind of pulled away on the back nine.”

Alker, who had a third round of three-under par, has a four-shot cushion over the sixth-placed Stephen Ames.

“It’s there to take,” Alker said. “I’ve got a lot of chasing to do now to win the tournament, but yeah, get a good night’s sleep and we’ll be all right.”

It has been a truly incredible year for Alker, who has gone from being a tour nobody to one of the most lucrative golfers on the planet this year.

The late bloomer has already scored nearly $5.5m in earnings this year, thanks to four victories and almost always being on the leaderboard in 23 tournaments.

The expected victory in the Charles Schwab end-of-year playoffs, by holding off Harrington, will get him a $1.65m bonus. And his prize money from this final tournament should push him even further over the $7m mark.

Alker doesn’t just win. He’s almost always in the hunt, with 18 top-10 finishes in 23 events, and has only been outside the top 25 twice.

Meanwhile, Lydia Ko is also lining up for a massive payday, in the Race to the CME Globe season-long championship. As the leader of the season-long rankings she is well placed to score the $1.64m season bonus, while next week’s final tournament carries a $3.28m first prize.

Ko has slipped to a tie for 27th going into the final round of the penultimate tournament, the Pelican Championship in Florida.

Rounds of 68 and 69 has Ko at three-under, seven shots off the lead held by Allisen Corpuz, but she is still set to retain the No 1 spot in the season standings heading into the final event.

Fellow Kiwi Ryan Fox goes into the final round of the Nedbank Classic in South Africa in a tie for seventh at six-under, three shots behind leaders Thomas Detry of Belgium and Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark, after poor rounds of 74 and 72 when forced to play catch-up yesterday due to weather delays.

Victory in Sun City would see Fox overtake Rory McIlroy at the top of the DP World Tour rankings, going into the final tournament in Dubai next week.

On the PGA Tour, Danny Lee missed the cut by two shots at the Houston Open. Tony Finau leads at 15-under by four shots over Ben Taylor, who in turn is three strokes ahead of third.