Steve Alker – file image courtesy of New Zealand Open / Photosport NZ

Steve Alker’s impressive come-from-behind victory in this week’s Cologuard Classic in Tucson added to an already remarkable set of statistics in his 4.5-year career on the PGA Tour Champions.

The victory came in Alker’s 100^th start at this level, and this was his 11^th title in that time but that he has been able to record now 74 top tens in that stretch, 41 of those top 3 finishes, confirms just how dominant the now 54 year old New Zealander has been since first qualifying to play an event in August of 2001 by Monday qualifying.

Alker recorded rounds of 62 and 65 over the final 36 holes to come from 9 shots off the first round lead in the 54-hole event and claimed the title with a birdie at the first extra hole of a playoff to defeat Padraig Harrington and successfully defend a title he also won in a playoff twelve months ago.

After missing a putt from under three feet on Friday to record an opening round of even par 71, Alker rebounded with his brilliant weekend to earn the winner’s cheque of US$330,000, taking his career earnings on the PGA Tour Champions to more than US$13 million.

In just two starts this season of four events played, Alker is now in 4^th position on the 2026 Schwab Cup points table.

“Yeah, it’s great,” said Alker in his opening remark in the media centre. “It kind of feels like deja vu, to be honest, the way it played out. Yeah, happy to have a chance to win the golf tournament, and ultimately it all worked out. 100th start, really special. I had no idea. It’s just gone so quickly, I’m having so much fun out here. To win here again is pretty special.

“As I said, this tournament means more,” added Alker, referring to the Cologuard cause, which is a test to identify Colon cancer.  “Winning the helmet, winning the golf tournament’s about the cause and what they’re doing here. To have two is nice. I mean, my wife and I have got one now.”

Steve Allan and Richard Green were the next best of the Australasians in the field when they tied for 10^th.

Leaderboard

Hannah Green – in action today – image WPGA

It would be easy to suggest that Hannah Green should be leading the Australian Women’s PGA Championship given that she is the highest-ranked player in the field by some margin, but golf workes in strange ways and the expected is not always the eventual outcome.

Green does, however, lead the $600,000 event at the Palms Course at Sanctuary Cove Golf Club on the Gold Coast, the world number 9 moving two clear of the field as the event enters the weekend.

Green, who just a few days ago won her first Women’s Australian Open in a classy exhibition against a stronger field in Adelaide, and two weeks earlier a win on the LPGA Tour in Singapore, followed up her opening round of 65 with an afternoon round of 67 to lead England’s Meghan Maclaren with another shot back to Germany’s Alexandra Fosterling.

Green quickly took over from the overnight leader, Kelsey MacDonald of Scotland, with an outward nine of 4 under 33, which included a double bogey at her 6^th hole, and despite a closing nine of just even par 34 she takes the lead into the weekend and appears as the logical winner of the event.

“Yeah, it was definitely a roller-coaster that’s for sure,” said Green, referring to her round of contrast.

“I don’t really think I have many pars in the front nine. It was nice to get the eagle on the par 5 after making a double on the par 3. I didn’t really hit that bad a shot, but it obviously went into the hazard and then didn’t make up and down from there.

“But it probably helps that there are a lot of opportunities to make birdies on this golf course, but it is easy to slip up and make a couple of bogeys. So hopefully I can go back to playing a bit more boring golf. Bogey-free was nice yesterday, so that’s what I’m going to try and do this weekend.

“I feel like it’s kind of different to last week in Adelaide. You kind of had to pick your moments where you could be aggressive at certain pins and things like that. But here, because we do have the grain, generally, it’s a little bit softer to land the ball, I think you can actually hit it towards the pins.

“So I haven’t actually looked at the forecast to see what we have this weekend. Hopefully, we’ve got nice conditions, but yeah, I just want to stay patient this weekend because I know there will be birdies and people coming from behind.

“I definitely feel like I’m probably putting more pressure on myself as I am obviously on such a hot run. Perhaps if I didn’t win the last two events, I would maybe fly under the radar a little bit more than I have obviously winning my last two tournaments that I’ve participated in. But yeah, it’s great. I think we still have a really strong LET field, so it’s not like I have it easy this weekend.

The cut fell at 2 over par with 68 players making it through to the weekend, with perhaps the biggest surprise, the missed cut of Stephanie Kyriacou, who missed the cut by five shots, her second missed cut in a row.

Leaderboard 

Hannah Green – image Australian Golf Media 

29-year-old West Australian Hannah Green today became the first Australian in 12 years to claim the Women’s Australian Open, a one-shot victory over Queensland’s Cassie Porter and France’s Agathe Laisne, confirming the favouritism she carried into the week and for much of the event as it unfolded.

Green has won seven titles on the LPGA Tour, including her major championship breakthrough at the KPMG PGA Championship in 2019, but this week’s victory in her own national open must rank very highly for her amongst those titles.

Green began the final day with a one-shot lead over Argentine Magdalena Simmermacher, but the South American took the lead with birdies at the 2^nd and 3^rd holes before Green regained the outright lead when she birdied the 5^th to lead by one over Simmermacher.

By the turn, Green led by two, and it appeared her greater experience would allow her to go on and win the event, given she was essentially in a class of her own among the contenders in terms of world ranking.

Then, however, came challenges from Laisne and Porter, Porter having begun her final round one hour ahead of the final group but 23 year old Porter, now in her second season as an LPGA Tour player, was putting together a simply stunning final round, playing her first 11 holes in 7 under and after beginning the day nine off the lead she was now just three behind Green

Porter’s amazing final round surge continued with further birdies at the 13^th, 14^th, and 16^th holes and when she signed for a round of 62, she was just one behind Green and Laisne and headed for the clubhouse to await her fate.

Green broke the deadlock between her and Laisne when she holed from 14 feet behind the hole at the 16^th to move one ahead, and when both bogeyed the 17^th, the difference between Green and Porter and Laisne was just one.

Green found the green some 15 feet from the hole at the last, and when she two-putted for par, the title was hers while Laisne, in the group ahead, was able to save par from behind the green to share the runner-up position with Porter.

Green wins A$255,000 for her victory, while for both Porter and Laisne, their respective cheques for $127,500, the best of their careers to date, are tremendous boosts for both, Laisne adding this runner-up finish to her victory at the Women’s NSW Open.

Green gets another chance to showcase her remarkable and perhaps understated game when she tees it up at the Australian Women’s PGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast next week, while other Australians Minjee Lee, Cassie Porter, and Karis Davidson head to California to resume their 2026 LPGA Tour campaign.

Green has typically shown a lot of support for golf in Australia; this victory a deserved reward for taking time out of her LPGA Tour schedule to play at home wherever appropriate.

Results

Hannah Green – fresh off a win in Singapore last week – image WPGA 

Australian golf switches its attention to the Australian Women’s Australian Open at the Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide for this week’s A$1.7 million event, where the outstanding favourites are Minjee Lee and Hannah Green.

Both Lee and Green arrive in Adelaide in fine form having finished 1^st (Green) and 3^rd (Lee) in an LPGA Tour event in Singapore last week, both looking for a breakthrough win in their own national open.

Lee at number 4 in the Rolex World Rankings and Green at number 9 provide strength to an event in which six of Australia’s LPGA Tour players will compete, Grace Kim, Stephanie Kyriacou Karis Davidson and Cassie Porter, adding to the possibility of an Australian victory for the first time since Karrie Webb’s win in 2014.

Lee is looking forward to playing in front of home crowds, but is not totally convinced it provides the benefit that many might think.

“I’m not sure if it’s an advantage. I definitely think we put a little bit of extra pressure on ourselves when we are playing, especially in front of a home crowd and just wanting to perform the best that I can and also produce a result.

“So I think it is obviously really lovely to be able to have the home crowd supporting us and we don’t get too many opportunities to play in Australia. So it’s just nice to be able to do that and give back to a little bit of our community.

“I’ve had really great weeks in Adelaide, South Australia. Always love coming back here. I think it’s just, we always get really great crowds anywhere in Australia, but I think especially in Adelaide, it’s just a much more tight knit community and it reminds me a bit more of Perth.

“So I always like coming back and the beach is right there and I’m a beach girl, so yeah.”

Green’s win in Singapore last week has her at the peak of her game and she too is looking forward to the opportunity for a win in an event which means so much to her.

“Singapore’s a place that I’ve had multiple good results. Yes, I’ve won there, but I’ve also had a runner up finish. So that was really nice to have a win in the season so early, but I feel like this is going to be a tough week.

“All of us Aussies probably want our name on that trophy really badly, but also coming in with some form probably put some more pressure on myself for the actual tournament. So I really enjoy playing here. It’s a really good vibe here in Adelaide and especially the fans. So hopefully I can use that to be successful.”

Yeah. It’s been, I guess, over a year since I won my previous tournament. So I felt like I put probably more pressure on myself in 2025 to back up a really good 2024. And every time I start the season, I have some good results. I think it’s because I’ve had the mental reset of being back at home.

“But throughout the US summer, I had some tough times, probably one of the lower points in my career. But I think coming back to Australia, kind of resetting, seeing all my teams and my friends back here really helped me. So I’m hoping that with how I’ve put my schedule this year, I can kind of have those moments throughout the season.

“We’ve got a lot of really good venues this year for our major championships. So they’re the events that all of us are obviously trying to strive for. So hopefully I’ve timed that correctly and can have a bit more of a consistent year.”

Like its male counterpart, the event will benefit from the decision by Golf Australia to return the Women’s Australian Open to a stand alone event rather than be played in conjunction with the men’s version, providing focus for an event deserving of a place on its own.

Tee Times Day One 

Matt Griffin, Steve Williams, and this writer are talking to around 90 caddies who took advantage of another tournament function 

Each Tuesday of New Zealand Open week, a function officially known as the Steve Williams Caddy Clinic is held ahead of New Zealand’s national open to bring together a large group of the nearly 300 caddies involved in the event.

With 150 professionals and 150 amateurs, there is a great need for more caddies than is the norm in a professional event, many who would caddy for the first time, and, for others, the gathering of 80 or 90 of them for a BBQ and Drinks allows stories and perhaps a bit of advice ahead of Thursday’s start.

This year, Williams was joined by former New Zealand Open Champion Matt Griffin and myself who was MC for the event as I have been for the past few years, my own background in caddying for the winners of seventeen events worldwide, supporting the incredible background and knowledge Williams has gained in nearly 50 years of caddying for the winners of 151 events including 14 major titles.

In 2025, we invited Australian Anthony Quayle to be the ‘player’ representative, and, as a result, he and Williams became good friends, with Williams caddying for Quayle in several events in Australia and New Zealand in recent months, including when Quayle led the Australian PGA Championship through 54 holes in November.

The function is unique in tournament golf and is yet another innovative idea in an event that has become renowned for them, the unique nature of the New Zealand Open ensuring many caddies are getting their first start at caddying at this level.

This year, Griffin proved to be another popular member of the panel, discussing his views on how to establish the boundaries of a new player-caddy relationship, his great come-from-behind win over Japan’s Hideto Tanihara to win the event in 2016, and his career generally.

Williams was, of course, his entertaining and articulate self, relating several stories from his outstanding career and passing on a few tips on the ‘art’ of caddying.

For those who missed out on a professional bag, I emphasised the need to get to know and connect with their amateur bosses for the week, an amateur playing in the pro-am is typically a very successful businessperson or a celebrity of some sort, and the chance to form a friendship could lead anywhere.

But there were many other ideas exchanged, with several questions from the group responded to by the panel, the hour-long function, which included beers, wine, and a sausage sizzle, once again proving to be quite a success.

Some of the 90 or so caddies who took part