Victorian golfer Steve Allan secured his third PGA TOUR Champions win of the season at the Boeing Classic in Washington, joining a small group of Australian players who have achieved this milestone. Allan started the final round four strokes behind Stewart Cink and only took the lead after a birdie from the bunker on the 18th hole, finishing with a 7-under 65 for a total score of 15-under par.
Cink made par on his last two holes, leaving Allan with a one-stroke victory. This marks Allan’s third title in his last 13 starts and comes during just his second year on the senior circuit. The win is especially notable as it is his first since claiming the Australian Open in 2002.
“I can’t explain it actually,” Allan said immediately after his victory.
“I would have probably laughed if you told me I would have won three times. I definitely thought that I had a win in me, but I wouldn’t have said three.
“I think I found a bit of a groove with my swing. I think I’m more aware of what I’m doing wrong when it goes wrong.
“I had a fairly tough few years there so when things do start to go wrong there, I’m not panicking anymore.
“Beginning of last year I had a few tournaments where I didn’t play very well, so I’m going into today, just let it happen.
“I’m not trying to force it, I’m not trying to push it, I’m just trying to play.”
Allan now joins Peter Thomson (nine wins in 1985), Bruce Crampton (seven wins in 1986 and four in 1987), David Graham (three wins in 1997), and Graham Marsh (three wins in 1997) as Australians who have posted three or more victories in one season on the Champions Tour. His earlier victories this season came at The Galleri Classic at Mission Hills and at the DICK’S Open in New York. With these achievements, Allan’s total prize money for the year has surpassed one million dollars.
Reflecting on his approach to the final round against Stewart Cink, Allan said:
“With Stewart being in that position, he could win by just having a really good round and we just have to sort of play well,” he added.
“In some ways it frees you up because you’re not really thinking about winning, you’re just trying to have a good round.
“When I birdied the ninth I saw that he hadn’t jumped out ahead, so it was going to be a chance so just had to knuckle down and played pretty well on the back nine.
“A couple long putts were really good to help me make easy pars after not good approach shots and then rolled in a few birdies.”
Meanwhile, David Micheluzzi finished tied for tenth at the Nexo Championship on the DP World Tour after recovering from early bogeys. Jason Day remains Australia’s sole representative left in contention for the FedEx Cup Playoffs following eliminations for Min Woo Lee and Cam Davis at TPC Southwind. Day dropped from 37th to 44th place and will need strong results at upcoming events to qualify for the Tour Championship reserved for the top thirty players; Ryan Fox also faces similar qualification challenges from his current ranking.
Other tournament results included Justin Rose winning the FedEx St Jude Championship; Grant Forrest taking first place at Scotland’s Nexo Championship; Dean Burmester topping LIV Golf Chicago; Laura Fuenfstueck claiming victory at England’s PIF London Championship; Christo Lamprecht winning Omaha’s Pinnacle Bank Championship; Oihan Guillamoundeguy securing Ireland’s Irish Challenge title; Amaia Latorre winning Sweden’s Ahlsell Trophy; Michael Hollick prevailing at South Africa’s FNB Eswatini Challenge; and Michael Brennan leading Canada’s BioSteel Championship.
