Alker and van der Walt finished the tournament at 14-under today (Mon) and then played a tour-record 11 sudden-death playoff holes before Alker made a birdie on the 18th -- which was the fifth time they had played that hole -- to claim the win.
The pair made par for the first 10 holes of the playoff as they sporadically played the 16th, 17th and 18th holes on the course.
Hamilton's Alker came in to the week sitting 102nd on the tour's order of merit but will now shoot up the standings, while he also has a start in this week's US Open at Pinehurst after coming through sectional qualifying last week.
Today's sudden-death playoff at the Lakewood Country Club in Ohio eclipsed the previous record on the Web.com Tour, which went for nine holes.
The victory was Alker's fourth on the second-tier tour and three of those have come in playoffs.
The showdown with van der Walt also equalled the longest playoff in PGA Tour history. In 1949 at the Motor City Open, Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum slugged it out for 11 holes but agreed to call it a day when they couldn't be separated and were declared co-winners.
There have also been five eight-hole sudden-death playoffs on the PGA Tour.
- Daniel Richardson of APNZ
