The duo have surged into pole position with 18 holes to go in the Legends Tour’s penultimate event of the season, but there are major winners and Ryder Cup heroes in close attendance on an exciting leaderboard.
Alker was part of a four-way tie for the lead overnight and he ensured he remained at the summit by adding a 67 to yesterday’s 66. The senior major winner birdied the 3rd and eagled the 9th to make the turn at -3 for the day. A couple of bogeys at 11 and 13 halted his momentum, but he recovered with back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th and a superb eagle at the par-5 17th to join Khan at -11.
“It was a little bit of a mixed bag,” said Alker, who secured his second Charles Schwab Cup on the Champions Tour last week. “I’m pleased to finish like that and be near the top of it. I knew the game was there, and I knew there were some chances coming in. I took advantage of them, so that was great. If we don’t have any wind tomorrow, there’s going to be some low scores again, so it’s just pedal to the metal and keep going.”
Earlier in the day, the Khan had set the clubhouse target with a 66 – matching the best round of the week so far. He eagled the 4th and picked up another shot at the 6th before making his first bogey of the week at 8. He made amends right away with a red number at the 9th, but dropped another on the very next hole. It was all positive from there though, as he birdied four of his remaining eight holes.
The Englishman, who won twice on the DP World Tour, including the 2010 BMW PGA Championship, knew playing the five par-5s in -5 was vital: “I started really well yesterday, and I started a bit slower today, but then I hit a really good shot into the 4th to about six feet and holed it, so that got me going. The par-5s here are key. They’re reachable but the greens are quite small and angled, so it’s hard to hold the green. I managed to have eagle chances on the first three, so yeah, just sort of solid stuff on the par-5s really.”
Khan has made a habit of starting tournaments well this year, breaking par in 11 of his 14 strokeplay opening rounds including this week, with five of those being 68 or better. The difference in Mexico is that he’s backed it up with an even better round on day two – having failed to break par 11 times in 13 second rounds this season. One of the occasions when he did go under par resulted in his best result of the year, tied-2nd at the Legends Open de France presented by CLA. His other top-10 was a 3rd at the flagship Staysure PGA Seniors Championship.
He’s focussing on the mental game to finish the job in Mexico: “I think I’ve tried too hard when it’s come down to those final days. The key to my start is if I can relax. Some of the views and the houses here are amazing, so I’ll focus on those and just relax and play and see what happens at the end of it.”
Alker has been a prolific winner on the Champions Tour with eight titles since November 2021, while Khan is searching for a first Legends Tour trophy, but there are plenty of other players with pedigree well in the mix.
Reigning MCB Road to Mauritius number one Peter Baker, 2002 PGA Championship winner Rich Beem and experienced former PGA Tour player Greg Owen are two shots back in tied-3rd following rounds of 67, 67 and 66 respectively. It’s a great opportunity for Baker, who currently sits 3rd in the Order of Merit, to close the gap to the number one spot with leading man Adilson da Silva lying tied-26th and 2nd place Scott Hend not teeing it up this week.
There’s another major winner in Shaun Micheel alongside five-time PGA Tour runner-up Brian Davis in tied-6thon -8, with Rafael Gomez and another of the overnight leaders, James Kingston, a shot further back. The other two players who completed yesterday’s leading quartet – Corey Pavin and Robert Coles – shot level-par 72s to slip into the tie for 10th with Alex Cejka and the two leading Mexicans, Esteban Toledo and Alejandro Quiroz.
The top 42 players on the MCB Road to Mauritius after this week guarantee their places in the season-ending MCB Tour Championship Mauritius, so there’s plenty to play for even for those players not in contention to win.
Click here to see the full leaderboard and final round tee times, and to find out more about the WCM Mexico Senior Open at Punta Mita Golf Club, Nayarit, Mexico.
