Langer wins for 18th straight year on Champions; Eckroat takes 2nd PGA Tour title

PHOENIX (AP) — Bernhard Langer won for the 18th straight year on the PGA Tour Champions, holing a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole to hold off Steven Alker in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday at Phoenix Country Club.

The 67-year-old Langer closed with a 5-under 66 — shooting his age or better for the third straight day and 23rd time on the tour — for a one-stroke victory over defending champion Alker — who won the season points title and a $1 million bonus — and Richard Green.

Langer pushed his tour victory record to 47, just over eight months after tearing his left Achilles playing pickelball. The German star won the season-ending event for the first time and extended his record as the tour’s oldest winner.

Five strokes ahead of Alker after a front-nine 30, Langer found himself tied for the lead with Alker and Green on the final hole after a two-stroke swing on the 17th when Alker hit to inches for birdie and Langer scrambled for bogey.

On the par-5 18th, Langer drove left into trees, reached the green in three and holed the long birdie putt. Alker hit his second shot over the green and left his chip short, then left a 12-footer to force a playoff short.

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Alker shot 66. Also the 2022 season champion, the New Zealander began the week second behind Ernie Els in the points race. Els tied for 13th at 7 under after a 67, leaving him second in the standings.

Green birdied the last two holes in a 65.

PGA Tour

LOS CABOS, Mexico (AP) — Austin Eckroat won the World Wide Technology Championship for his second PGA Tour title of the year, shooting a 9-under 63 for a one-stroke victory over Justin Lower and Carson Young.

Playing in the group ahead of Lower and Young, Eckroat birdied the par-4 17th to open a three-stroke lead over Young, then finished with a bogey on the par-5 18th at Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal at Diamante.

Eckroat locked up spot in the top 50 in the FedExCup Fall standings.

Needing an eagle to force a playoff, Young birdied the 18th for a 65. Lower closed with an eagle for a 65.

Eckroat finished at 24-under 264. The 25-year-old former Oklahoma State player won the Cognizant Classic in March at PGA National for his first PGA Tour title.

On Sunday, he didn’t have a par until the seventh hole, opening with five birdies and a bogey. He added a birdie on No. 8 and birdied four of the first five holes on the back nine.

European Tour

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Paul Waring of England picked up the biggest win of his career when he closed with a 6-under 66 to win the Abu Dhabi Championship,

The victory was the second of his career for Waring, who was No. 229 in the world ranking. It moves him high enough in the Race to Dubai to earn one of 10 PGA Tour cards for 2025.

Waring finished two shots ahead of Tyrrell Hatton (64) and three shots ahead of Rory McIlroy (64), Matt Wallace and Thorbjorn Olesen (66).

McIlroy will have to wait until next week in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship to try to wrap up a sixth Race to Dubai title. Thriston Lawrence also closed with a 64 and tied for sixth, keeping McIlroy from mathematically clinching the season race.

The 39-year-old Waring moved to No. 5 in the Race to Dubai, which secures a spot in the British Open next summer.

LPGA Tour

HONOLULU (AP) — A Lim Kim won the Lotte Championship on Saturday for her second LPGA Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a two-stroke victory over Nataliya Guseva of Russia.

One stroke ahead of Guseva entering the day at breezy Hoakalei Country Club, Kim ended a six-hole par streak with a birdie on the par-5 18th.

The 29-year-old South Korean jumped from 65th to 22nd in the Race to CME Globe standings to secure a spot in the 60-player season finale that pays $4 million to the winner. She won the U.S. Women’s Open in December 2020.

Guseva was trying to become the first Russian winner in LPGA Tour history. The 21-year-old former Miami player parred the final five holes in a 69.

Auston Kim was third at 15 under after a 67.

Other tours

Ryo Ishikawa closed with a 3-under 67 for a one-shot victory in the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters for his 20th career title on the Japan Golf Tour and his second Japan tour victory this year. ... Hinaco Yamauchi closed with a 5-under 67 and won the Itoen Ladies Golf Tournament by two shots on the Japan LPGA. ... Da Som Ma closed with a 5-under 67 and birdied the second playoff hole to defeat Dongeun Lee in the SK Telecom-SK Shieldus Championship on the Korea LPGA. ... Simon Griffiths, who earned a Legends Tour card through Q-school, shot a bogey-free 68 for a two-shot win in the Farmfoods European Senoir Masters in Spain.

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