David McKenzie’s important runner-up finish on Champions Tour
David McKenzie earlier this year at the Senior PGA – photo PGA of America Montana Pritchard
Victorian David McKenzie’s runner-up finish in the PGA Tour Champion’s Boeing Classic behind Miguel Angel Jimenez in Washington State over the weekend opened the door for the successful retention of his full playing rights on that tour in 2023.
McKenzie has struggled with continuity of opportunities given his limited status on the PGA Tour Champions in 2022 but this performance could well open the door for a strong finish to the season.
So significant was the prizemoney (US$193,000) for finishing runner-up this week that it has jumped McKenzie from 74th to 45th on the money list and leaves him well placed to graduate to the opening event of the Charl Schwab playoffs in mid- October where the leading 72 players tee it up.
The 55-year-old McKenzie joined the tour with several top ten finishes on the 2017 PGA Tour Champions including a 9th place on debut at the Senior Open Championship that year. He would then finish 12th at the Tour School later they year to gain limited status and has continued to play each year since, albeit with varying degrees of status.
“I have been playing well for a year, but I hadn’t been playing,” said McKenzie who because of his limited status has been unable to gain the number of starts to build momentum.
“I played like, going back to The Traditional, played one week, there was a week off. The next week, the Senior PGA. Scraped in, got into the next one. But my preparation wasn’t good that week for Des Moines.
“Missed the next week, went home. So I had four weeks off. I came back, I played the Senior Players. Then I went to the U.K. to play the Senior British Open, missed the qualifying. So I had another three weeks off. Came back over here, got into Calgary, and then got in here late.
“So all of a sudden, it’s the first time I think all year that I have played two tournaments in a row. So hopefully, that’s just a bit of continuity to feel like I’m playing well, give myself chances, and hopefully that will continue. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Interestingly, McKenzie gained entry to this week’s event as an alternate.
The finish was McKenzie’s equal best finish to that when runner-up at the SAS Tournament in 2019. His earning since joining the PGA Tour Champions in 2017 are now US$2.24 million.
Steve Alker celebrated a year on the Champions Tour by finishing 5th this week, yet another top ten for the 51 year old whose PGA Tour Champions career earnings in that time total US$3.573 million including four victories and numerous top ten finishes.
Alker is still well clear on this year’s Charl Schwab standings, some US$564,000 ahead of Jerry Kelly.
