GRAND BLANC, MI — Steven Alker crashed the Block party.
Alker made four consecutive birdies on the back nine en route to a final-round 4-under 68 to hold off a big-name leaderboard and run away with The Ally Challenge crown at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club on Sunday, Aug. 30. It was Alker’s 13th victory on the 50-and-older PGA Tour Champions tour — including his third this season and his second in as many weeks.
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Alker, 55, from New Zealand, took sole possession of the lead with a birdie at the par-4 12th hole, then expanded it with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 13th hole, as Michael Block, the one-time viral sensation, made bogey.
“Perfect number,” Alker said of his second-shot, 3-wood approach from 245 yards into the 13th hole, where the momentum really swung to his corner. “Worked out well.”
Alker made birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 (the latter on a 60-foot putt), too, as he seized yet another title and bolstered his standing in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race, which he’s won twice before. Alker won for the second time in Michigan, having won the Senior PGA Championship in 2022 at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor.Alker entered Sunday’s final round two shots back of Block, the 50-year-old PGA Tour Champions rookie who was looking for his first win in any PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament.
But Block was stuck in the mud during the rain-delayed final round as highly acclaimed golfers made charges from all corners of the course.
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“Steven Alker showed me a couple things I need to do,” Block said. “I played a little bit different golf than I did the first two days because I was nervous; I had never been there before. So, it was a learning experience for me.”
Steven Alker captured the Ally Championship.
Still, Block was just one shot back standing on the 13th tee, and he found the fairway.
His tee shot at 13 was on the right side of the fairway, and he was blocked out of the green by an overhanging tree. He tried to play a cut, but double-crossed his 3 wood and pulled it well left of the green. That left him short-sided. He left his third shot short of a greenside bunker, then put his fourth shot in the bunker. He got up and down for bogey, but with Alker’s birdie, he walked off the green trailing by three.Block, who was making just his fifth start on PGA Tour Champions, made birdie at the par-3 14th, but bogeyed the par-4 15th, and his first title will have to wait. His last five wins of note anywhere were at the Southern California PGA Championship. He’s best-known for one swing: a hole-in-one in the final round of the 2023 PGA Championship, playing alongside Rory McIlroy.Alker finished at 15 under to win by three strokes over World Golf Hall-of-Famer and two-time U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen, who shot a hard-charging 8-under 64 on Sunday. Goosen clawed his way into a tie for the lead on the back nine, but missed short birdie putts at Nos. 13 and 14 to halt the momentum.”It’s been a great week,” Goosen said. “Obviously wasn’t good enough.”
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Stewart Cink, the 2024 and 2025 Ally Challenge winner and a former British Open champion, shot a final-round 67 and finished 11 under, tied for third with Block (74), who now gets into the next tournament, and Greg Chalmers (69).
Finishing sixth at 10 under was former Masters winner Angel Cabrera (71), and finishing tied for seventh at 9 under was Padraig Harrington (73), a three-time major champion who won the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in 2008.
Brandt Jobe, father of Tigers pitcher Jackson Jobe, finished tied for 12th at 8 under, after a Sunday 69. The highlight of the week was catching up with his son, who he saw pitch Wednesday at Comerica Park.
“It was a busy week, needless to say,” Jobe said with a smile. “Overall, a very nice week. A busy week.”
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Wyandotte’s Justin Hicks, who Tuesday-qualified into the Ally, finished tied for 27th in his fourth start on PGA Tour Champions. George McNeill, whose caddie is Lake Orion’s Tom Gillis (formerly a PGA Tour and Champions player), finished tied for 44th.The Ally Challenge will return in 2027 for its 10th year, with a one-year extension being finalized just before the 2026 event, tournament officials told The News last week. The 2027 Ally Challenge will be played Aug. 27-29.
Ally Challenge champions
2018: Paul Broadhurst2019: Jerry Kelly2020: Jim Furyk2021: Joe Durant2022: Steve Sticker2023:Vijay Singh2024: Stewart Cink2025: Stewart Cink2026: Steven Alker
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Steven Alker storms back to top Michael Block, win The Ally Challenge
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