PHOENIX — Bernhard Langer won for the 18th straight year on the PGA Tour Champions, holing a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole to hold off Steven Alker in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday at Phoenix Country Club.
The 67-year-old German star closed with a 5-under-par 66, shooting his age or better for the third straight day and 23rd time overall on the 50-and-older tour.
Langer finished the 72-hole event at 18-under 266 for a one-stroke victory over 2023 winner Alker (66) — the 53-year-old from New Zealand won the 2024 season points title and a $1 million bonus — and Richard Green (65), a 53-year-old Australian.
“It’s unbelievable; I can’t describe it,” Langer said. “To win this big tournament after what I’ve been through and to make it 18 years in a row out here.”
Langer pushed his record for career wins on the senior circuit to 47, with Sunday’s win coming just eight months after tearing his left Achilles tendon while playing pickleball. He won the season-ending event for the first time and extended his record as the tour’s oldest winner.
“This was the least likely one to win, because I’ve just never done very well here for some reason.” Langer said. “But I had one of the best putting weeks of my life. Greenskeeping staff, I owe you one. Well done, great job.”
Five strokes ahead of Alker after a front-nine 30 on Sunday, Langer found himself tied for the lead with Alker and Green on the final hole after a two-stroke swing on the 17th when Alker hit to inches for a birdie and Langer scrambled for a bogey.
On the par-5 18th, Langer drove left into trees, reached the green in three shots and holed the long birdie putt. Alker hit his second shot over the green and left his chip short, then left a 12-footer to force a playoff short.
Alker, who also won the 2022 season title, was second behind Ernie Els in the points race entering the finale.
“It would have been nice to win it all today, the whole lot, but hey, I’ve got the Schwab Cup, and that’s important to me,” Alker said.
Els (67) tied for 13th at 7 under after a 67, leaving him second in the standings.
The top 36 players on the points list qualified for the event, with Steve Stricker the lone qualifier who didn’t play.
AP file photo by Sue Ogrocki / Austin Eckroat earned his second PGA Tour victory of the year Sunday when he won the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico.Rises during Fall
LOS CABOS, Mexico — Austin Eckroat won the World Wide Technology Championship for his second PGA Tour victory of 2024, closing with a 9-under 63 to finish at 24-under 264 in the 72-hole event El Cardonal at Diamante and finish one stroke ahead of Justin Lower and Carson Young, who each shot a 65 on Sunday.
Playing in the group ahead of Lower and Young, Eckroat birdied the par-4 17th to open a three-stroke lead over Young, then finished with a bogey on the par-5 18th at a course designed by 15-time major champion Tiger Woods.
Eckroat locked up a spot in the top 50 in the FedExCup Fall standings. Just two events remain for that schedule: the Butterfield Bermuda Championship that tees off Thursday, and the RSM Classic on Nov. 21-24 on Georgia’s St. Simons Island.
“I think it kind of validates the season that I had, just a great way to cap off and end the year,” Eckroat said. “It was really special to do it at an event where the title sponsor, I’m an ambassador of their company. A cool week.”
Needing an eagle to force a playoff, Young birdied the 18th.
“I hit a bunch of good iron shots, especially on the back nine,” he said. “I shot 7 under, so I played good, I can’t be too mad about it.”
Lower closed with an eagle.
“I played well,” he said. “I said yesterday I had to shoot probably somewhere between 5 and 9 (under) again just to have a chance. Shot 7 and came up one short.”
Eckroat, a 25-year-old former Oklahoma State player, won the Cognizant Classic in March for his first PGA Tour victory. On Sunday, he didn’t have a par until the seventh hole, opening with five birdies and a bogey. He added a birdie on No. 8 and birdied four of the first five holes on the back nine.
“That’s probably some of the best golf I’ve ever played; just from the start, putts were going in,” Eckroat said. “I don’t know, it was automatic out there today, I guess, is how you could call it. It’s crazy I only won by one shooting 9 under par today from one back. Obviously, everybody was playing well; it was a good battle.”
Max Greyserman (65) was fourth at 22 under, three strokes ahead of fifth-place Joe Highsmith (68).
Three of the four Baylor School graduates currently on the PGA Tour were in the field to start the tournament, although Keith Mitchell missed the 36-hole cut. Harris English closed with a 66 to share 14th place at 15 under, while Luke List (71) finished 54th.
AP photo by Altaf Qadri / Paul Waring, right, celebrates with his caddie after winning the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on Sunday.Smooth on Sunday
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Paul Waring closed with a 6-under 66 to win the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship, the biggest win yet for the 39-year-old Englishman who entered at No. 229 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Waring, who held a one-stroke lead after 54 holes, finished at 24-under 264 and won by two strokes over countryman Tyrell Hatton (64). His second victory on the Europe-based circuit came in his 332nd start and six years after his first at the Nordea Masters, and he was thankful — and a bit surprised — by having such a smooth Sunday with so much on the line.
“It was quite an easy day really, wasn’t it? It just means so much,” said Waring, who secure a spot in next summer’s British Open. “To actually keep control of myself in the way that I did today, I’m really proud of myself.”
Three players tied for third at 21 under: England’s Matt Wallace (63), Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (64) and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen (66).
“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I still think I’ve got to play another hole or something,” an emotional Waring said. “It hasn’t quite hit me yet. I’m sure it will do later on when I’m having a beer.”
Waring — who was at 19 under after two rounds at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Links, the lowest 36-hole score to par in DP World Tour history — faces the prospect of playing as a dual member on both the European circuit and the U.S.-based PGA Tour.
“I was quite happy living in Dubai, to be honest with you,” he said. “It’s going to be a long way to travel, a long commute over to America. But I’m looking forward to that. It’s a new challenge. Absolutely made up.”
The season-ending DP World Tour Championship starts Thursday in Dubai.
AP file photo by Lee Jin-man / A Lim Kim won the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championship on Saturday in Hawaii for the second win of her career but first since the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open.‘Super fun’ success
HONOLULU — South Korean player A Lim Kim won the Lotte Championship for her second LPGA Tour victory, closing with a 4-under 68 on Saturday for a two-stroke victory over playing partner Nataliya Guseva (69).
Kim, who finished the 72-hole event at 18-under 270, won for the first time since her major championship victory at the U.S. Women’s Open in December 2020.
“It was super fun,” Kim said.” I haven’t felt this way in a long time.”
A stroke ahead of Guseva entering the day at breezy Hoakalei Country Club, the 29-year-old ended a six-hole streak of pars with a birdie on the par-5 18th. With the victory, Kim jumped from 65th to 22nd in the Race to CME Globe standings to secure a spot in the 60-player season finale that pays $4 million to the winner.
Two tournament remain on the LPGA Tour’s 2024 schedule, with both in Florida: the Annika, which starts Thursday in Belleair, and the CME Group Tour Championship on Nov. 21-24 in Naples.
Guseva was trying to become the first Russian winner in LPGA Tour history. The 21-year-old former University of Miami player parred the final five holes.
American player Auston Kim (67) was third at 15 under. Nasa Hataoka (67) was another stroke back, and fellow Japanese player Yuri Yoshida (69) and Ryann O’Toole (70) of the United States tied for fifth at 13 under.