Golf: Alker in hunt for card

The race is on for Kiwi golfer Steven Alker to qualify for the PGA Tour for a second time. Photo / Getty Images.

Kiwi golfer Steven Alker is on the cusp of a PGA Tour card - he just needs two more good weeks on the Web.com Tour to get the job done.

The 41-year-old Hamilton pro finished in a share of 19th place at the Price Cutter Charity Championship in Missouri during the weekend and is projected to slip one place on the money list to 22nd.

The former New Zealand PGA Champion knows that every week is vital to his chances. He remained calm under pressure with rounds of 67, 70, 69 and 70 at the Highland Springs Country Club to finish on a 12-under par total.

Alker finished 10 shots back from American Andrew Svoboda who won by three strokes from Brazilian Fernando Mechereffe to climb to 20th on the Order of Merit.

The former New Zealand Eisenhower rep, who qualified for the PGA Tour in 2003 through the second-tier tour, needs to finish inside the top 25 players on the order of merit to return to the game's most lucrative circuit.

There are only two events remaining in the revised format for the Web.com Tour in 2013.

The top 25 players on the Web.com money list at the conclusion of the Cox Classic on August 25 will earn PGA Tour cards for next season.

They will be joined by another 25 players who earn their way onto the game's most lucrative tour through a new four-tournament playoff concluding with the Web.com Tour Championship on Dye's Valley Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida from September 26-29.

The four-week playoff takes the place of the tour's annual qualifying tournament.

New Zealand has three players inside the top 25 on the money list, with the others Tim Wilkinson (ninth) and Danny Lee (12th).

The Web.com Tour has reported that Wilkinson and Lee have already done enough to qualify for the PGA Tour in 2014 and if Alker can join them it will be close to a return to the heyday of New Zealand golf.

In 2002 New Zealand had five players with full playing rights on the PGA Tour, Craig Perks, Frank Nobilo, Phil Tataurangi, Grant Waite and Michael Long.