0 A feast of sport

We've got quite a lot happening over the next few weeks. So SWMBO suggested a couple of weeks ago that she would plan a work trip around a weekend with her family, and when we checked the sporting schedules, we encouraged her heartily!

That's because there's a veritable feast of sport this weekend, and the Sky remote will be ours and ours alone! It's not like we're obsessed or anything, but you know what it's like.

For many, the FIFA World Cup is always a highlight. All the talk and all the speculation is over, and Sepp Blatter will be glad the focus is about to go off his leadership of FIFA and onto the Beautiful Game itself. Blatter has made comments about needing a fifth term as FIFA president to "finish my mission", and if his mission is to make sure that FIFA is seen as corrupt, he's almost there!

But the World Cup itself is about to kick off. The Opening Ceremony is underway, and shortly, Brazil and Croatia will play the opening match. It should be a feast of football over the next month.

Pinehurst No. 2 is a golf course steeped in tradition. It's 15 years since Payne Stewart won his second US Open (and his third major) at Pinehurst. A few short months later, Stewart died in a bizarre plane accident. And how can we forget the last Pinehurst winner, Michael Campbell? 

The US Open is underway, and Pinehurst No. 2 with its signature turtle-back greens is already providing a fantastic test of golf for the world's best players, with only 23 players under par at the moment, and the leaders at only two-under. Steven Alker has made a difficult start, and is three-over after six holes, but he is in good company. You can follow the live scores right here.

If that's not enough, there's the normal weekend diet of NRL, the second test between England and New Zealand, the semi-finals of the IRB U20 tournament with New Zealand out for revenge against a giant South African side and the test match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord's in London.

It's almost too much of a good thing. But with the remote in our palm, and with the magic of MySky, we'll manage to watch a good selection of sport this weekend. What's not to like about that?

0 Steven's good week continues

Last week we brought you the good news that Steven Alker had qualified for this week's US Open. 

Alker's good fortune got better today, as the Golf Channel reports:

While some say happiness is the journey, not the destination, there’s a good chance Steven Alker was elated when his voyage to the winner’s circle finally came to an end Sunday … after 11 extra holes.
Alker, a 42-year-old from New Zealand who briefly played on the PGA Tour in 2003, outlasted another journeyman, South Africa's Dawie van der Walt, 35, at the Web.com Tour’s Cleveland Open by sinking a 3-foot birdie putt to end the longest playoff in Web.com history.
The marathon session tied the PGA Tour record for most playoff holes set at the 1949 Motor City Open, during which Carey Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum were declared co-winners when it was deemed too dark to play.
The most recent PGA Tour playoff even close was the 2012 Mayakoba Golf Classic, where John Huh beat Robert Allenby on the eighth extra hole.
Tied at 14 under after the final round, Alker and van der Walt made matching pars on 18, 18, 16, 17, 18, 16, 17, 18, 16 and 17 before Alker finally made a birdie on 18.
The win marks the 10^th professional victory for Alker, his fourth on the Web.com Tour.

 

As if playing 36 holes in a day last week wasn't enough, Steven Alker played almost two rounds today. But with a pay cheque of US$106,000 in his pocket, and two high-pressure victories, he will carry plenty of confidence to Pinehurst No. 2.

 

And today's result has rocketed Alker to #12 on the Web.Com Tour money list. One more high finish this year, and he is likely to find himself back on the PGA Tour next year.

 

Steven Alker is the quintessential Kiwi battler. We congratulate him on today's gritty win, and wish him well for his trip to the US Open.

 

 

 

0 Well done Steven Alker

Lydia Ko has been getting all the golfing headlines in recent months. But today, there's some good news to report from the men's ranks.

Steven Alker has made it through golf's longest day to qualify for next week's US Open. Sectional qualifiers have been played today at ten locations across the US. A total of 769 golfers had made it through local qualifying, or been exempt to the sectionals. Ahead of them stood 36 holes of sudden-death golf, for the last remaining 56 spots.

Steven Alker was playing in the California sectional, and his odds were even more daunting. Because his tournament wasn't where the PGA Tour was last week or this coming week, there were fewer places up for grabs. Alker was hoping for one of just five places available to the 110 California sectional entrants.

After the first round, it wasn't looking flash. Alker shot a 1-under 70 at the Olympic Club in the morning round to be mid-pack, and well out of contention. But all the golfing planets aligned for the Kiwi journeyman in the afternoon round as he shot the equal low score of the day, and the low score at Lake Merced; a seven-under 65. That left Alker in second place at eight-under for the day, with only Alex Cejka of Germany finishing ahead of him.

After the disappointment of narrowly missing his PGA Tour card for 2014, this will be a great consolation prize for Steven Alker. And let's not forget that the last time the US Open was played at Pinehurst #2, Michael Campbell came through sectional qualifying to make the 156-man field, and become just the second New Zealander to win a major.

Fellow Kiwis Danny Lee and Tim Wilkinson were not so lucky, finishing three and two shots off the number in their respective events. So with Michael Campbell's withdrawl, Alker will be the sole New Zealander in the field.

Pinehurst #2 will provide a searching test for the world's best golfers at the end of next week. We wish Steven Alker every success.