Golf: Alker wraps up NZ PGA Championship

2009 NZ PGA champion Steve Alker holds the championship trophy. Photo / Getty Images.

Steve Alker shot a final-round 5-under-par 67 on Sunday to win the New Zealand PGA by two strokes over two other local golfers.

New Zealand's Alker finished the joint US Nationwide and Australasian PGA tournament with a 15-under total of 273 on the Clearwater resort course. Compatriots Josh Geary (67) and David Smail (68) were tied for second.

Alker became the first New Zealander to win the tournament since its reintroduction in 2004 and the first to win a Nationwide Tour event in New Zealand. Alker's win came seven years after his first Nationwide win in the 2002 Louisiana Open.

Australian Michael Sim and Henrik Bjornstad of Norway, each with 67s, and American Ryan Hietala (69) were three back and tied for fourth.

US Amateur champion Danny Lee of New Zealand, who won the Johnnie Walker Classic last month, shot 70 Sunday and finished tied for seventh, four back. Also in that group was third-round leader Steve Friesen of the United States, who shot 72.

"It's pretty special, being the first New Zealand winner of the PGA at Clearwater," Alker said.

"I've got some friends and family down here this week and friends and family back in the United Kingdom who are actually asleep at the moment. I had to give my wife a quick call but I actually forgot it's her birthday today."

Alker's final round included six birdies, including three in a row from the ninth, and a bogey at the 16th. Smail parred his last four holes.

The New Zealand Open, another Nationwide-Australasian PGA tournament, will begin Thursday at The Hills Golf Club at Queenstown, also on New Zealand's South Island.

- AP