Sunday Wrap-Up For The 2022 Senior PGA Championship

Sunday Wrap-Up For The 2022 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship

With hundreds, if not thousands, of media outlets to recite the blow-by-blow on Sunday’s Senior PGA Championship (the vast majority of whom were not actually there), I’ll just say that it was exciting to watch in person. Steve Alker came from four shots behind to win by three over third round leader Stephen Ames.

It wasn’t so much that Ames faltered as Alker excelled, posting an 8-under 63 on a difficult Harbor Shores course and setup.

The eighteenth at Harbor Shores

You just have to take a look at the eighteenth at Harbor Shores (above) to know how tough that course can be.

Here’s Monty trying to play a shot that just missed the fairway and took a bad bounce. He’s a foot from the swamp.

I thought a couple of the pin positions were downright mean. The eighteenth’s hole was cut in a spot in a spot where a miss left or a slightly overcooked putt could put your ball in the swamp.

On the tenth, the back right, upper-tier pin position is one I wouldn’t like to see. I talked to one of the Marshalls who said that a couple of players struggled to get the ball up the slope, watching it roll back down on a couple of tries.

Although Alker is not a familiar name, he leads this year’s Charles Schwab Cup race on the strength of three wins in his last five starts.

Prior to his appearance on the PGA TOUR Champions, Alker had zero PGA TOUR wins, 4 Korn Ferry Tour Wins and 2 PGA TOUR of Australasia wins. He is definitely a guy taking advantage of his second golfing life.

Runner-up — and 54 hole leader — Stephen Ames shot a 1-under 70 in the final round. It is Ames’ best finish in a senior major, and the best finish by a Canadian player in a senior major since the launch of the PGA TOUR Champions in 1980.

The ageless wonder, Bernhard Langer, finished in third place at 10 under. He was leading the tournament at the turn, but faltered on the back nine.

Defending Champ Alex Cejka finished 13th.

	Player	To Par	Scores
1	Stephen Ames	-12	68-66-67 – 201
T2	Mike Weir	-10	65-71-67 – 203
T2	Bernhard Langer	-10	68-68-67 – 203
4	Paul Goydos	-9	69-68-67 – 204
T5	Alex Cejka	-8	68-69-68 – 205
T5	Steven Alker	-8	64-72-69 – 205
T5	Brian Gay	-8	68-68-69 – 205

PGA professional Tracy Phillips (South Central Section) earned low club professional honors with a T17 finish at 5-under.

Noting the photos above: If you don’t play Tour Edge are you really on the PGA TOUR Champions?

I had a lot of fun at the 2022 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. The PGA of America and KitchenAid put on a good show. There was enough of a crowd to build some energy, but not so many that I had trouble seeing the action.

For more on the 2022 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, see my articles here and here.

I look forward to another fun weekend when the Senior PGA returns to Benton Harbor in 2024.