Steven Alker wins another Charles Schwab Cup as Bernhard Langer, 67, seizes the day

Bernhard Langer was losing steam and seemingly all out of magic by the time he reached the final green at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Country Club. Lo and behold, there was more rabbit hiding out somewhere in that trademark visor of his. Langer finished his day, and a long season, by doing something he always seems to do. He wowed us, amazing one and all with one last defy-the-odds birdie, this one from 30 feet, one final magical roll that sent his ball sliding gently left to right before falling out of sight, leading him to a one-shot victory over Steven Alker at the PGA TOUR Champions’ season finale.

Alker, who closed with a round of 5-under 66, missed from 8 feet at No. 18 to force extra holes, his tie for second (with Australia’s Richard Green) good enough to pass Ernie Els to capture the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race. Alker won the cup for the second time in three years, earning $1 million bonus money for his effort. So Alker had the opportunity to raise his arms in triumph walking off the last green on Sunday, but the final round, final day, belonged to Langer, who at 67 years, 2 months and 14 days, was a winner for the 47th time as a senior golfer, a Champions Tour record.

Langer, who passed Hale Irwin’s 45 career Champions victories at the start of 2023, had won at least once in each of his first 17 seasons on PGA TOUR Champions, and was down to one last putt to keep one of golf’s most impressive streaks alive. He hit a tee shot wide left at the par-5 finishing hole, ran a low punched rope-hook from among the trees back into play, and when he wedged to 30 feet on his approach, his longtime caddie, Terry Holt, handed him his long putter and said these simple words: One more putt to make.

“He’s a prophet, I guess,” Langer said. “Was that exciting, or what? Unbelievable. I can’t describe it. I’m very grateful, very blessed.”

Langer’s final-round 66 left him at 18-under 266 for the week, one shot better than Alker and Green, who birdied his last two and five of his last eight. Langer credited his 47th career Champions Tour victory to a torrid week with the putter. An adjustment he made earlier in the week to move slightly farther from the ball standing over his putts paid handsomely. He rolled in a 50-footer for birdie at No. 2 and made putts of 20 feet and 18 feet on his next two holes, a blistering start. Only a 6-foot miss at the birdie-friendly par-4 fifth hole kept Langer from making birdies at his first six holes, and he quickly built a four-shot lead. When he made yet another birdie from 25 feet at the ninth to go out in 6-under 30, Langer stretched his lead to five.

“When we arrived here on Monday, I mentioned to Terry that we hadn’t won this year, and we’ve only got one more chance,” said Langer, who missed three months early in the season after Feb. 2 surgery to repair his left Achilles tendon, which he tore playing pickleball. “This was the least likely one to win, because I’ve just never done very well here for some reason.

“But I had one of the best putting weeks of my life.”

Though he has won the Charles Schwab Cup on six previous occasions – Langer, ever the perfectionist, feels he should have won eight – he had never won the finale before at Phoenix Country Club. Among the week’s starting field of 35 competitors, Langer ranked 22nd in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. His victory moved him to seventh. Els, a three-time winner in 2024, finished second in points, completing his finest season amongst the over-50 set. The left-handed Green, a five-time runner-up still in search of his maiden victory, moved to third on Sunday in the season-long points race, with Padraig Harrington and Stephen Ames rounding out the top five.

Langer wasn’t the only one left struggling to find words to describe him winning again at 67.

“Incredible, just incredible,” said Els, whose best round of the week (4-under 67) left him tied for 13th in Phoenix. “He (Langer) just defies anything. He's an absolute incredible golfer. ... I just saw some highlights in there, he's making long putts. Just a wonderful player, and wonderful asset to our game.”

Alker, 53, who resides in Phoenix, won the Charles Schwab Cup in 2022 and entered the week at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship as its defending champion. He had a golden opportunity to make off with both trophies on Sunday. Langer doesn’t squander too many leads, but with four bogeys on his final nine, he allowed others to stay close. A day after Alker posted the low round of the week, an 8-under 63 that moved him to projected No. 1 in the points race, not much was happening for him on Sunday. But soon he birdied 14 and 15, and with Langer scrambling just to make a scrappy bogey at the par-4 17th, where Langer clipped a tree limb with his second shot, Alker hit gap wedge to a foot to set up birdie and tie Langer and Green at 17-under.

At the par-5 18th, Alker had the advantage with his length, but his second shot with a hybrid released just through the green. Alker hit a poor pitch, by his standards, leaving 8 feet, and after Langer’s heroic putt, he could not match the birdie. It was a bittersweet ending for Alker, who settled for one shiny trophy (not two) and his $1 million bonus.

Alker becomes only the seventh player to collect multiple Charles Schwab Cups.

“Just competing with Bernhard and everybody out here on the Champions Tour,” Alker said, “it's just made me a better player. I'm very grateful for that.”

Every dollar earned in each of the three Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs events was doubled in points; Alker’s earnings for his T2 finish ($276,000) helped him to pass Els in the overall standings. Els had been atop the Charles Schwab Cup points standings for 14 weeks, and it had been the South African’s best season of senior golf. He won his first major title (Kaulig Companies Championship) and was a consistent force.

“This week was a tough week. I didn't quite have my ‘A’ game,” Els said. “I was really trying hard, but hung in there. Even today, you know, I was really trying to find some magic at the end there just to try to get to the top five. ... but it is what it is. It's been a really good year, and we'll come back stronger next year.”

Alker joined Els in saluting the man who authored such an exciting finish to the season.

“Obviously I would like to win today,” Alker said, “but Bernhard, we're going to give a hand for Bernhard – he's incredible, he really is.”

No bigger truth could be spoken.