Austin Eckroat’s favorite memory as a golf fan is watching Tiger Woods win the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills in his native Oklahoma. Eckroat is now a winner at a Woods-designed venue. Eckroat made 11 birdies Sunday to win his second TOUR title at the World Wide Technology Championship, withstanding bogeys on Nos. 3 and 18 for a 9-under 63 and a one-stroke win over Carson Young and Justin Lower at 24-under total. Eckroat, 25, ranks outside the top 100 for the season in Strokes Gained: Putting but caught fire with a new putter in Mexico, ranking No. 4 in Putts per Green in Regulation and carding 30 birdies on the week, most in the field. It has been a swift, steady climb for Eckroat in professional golf; he earned Korn Ferry Tour membership as No. 3 on the 2021 PGA TOUR University Ranking, secured his PGA TOUR card via the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Finals and is now a two-time winner in 2024, adding to his breakthrough title at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches in March. “I think that second win kind of solidifies that you can win on the PGA TOUR,” Eckroat said afterward. “You can't just say it was luck this time; I've done it twice. Pretty cool.”

Steven Alker wins Charles Schwab Cup

Bernhard Langer, 67, rewrote his own records at the PGA TOUR Champions’ season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, draining a 30-foot birdie on the 72nd hole at Phoenix Country Club for a one-stroke win over Steven Alker and Richard Green. It marked his 47th Champions Tour victory, now two clear of Hale Irwin for most all-time, and he extended his own mark as the oldest winner of a TOUR-sanctioned event. It was Langer’s day, but for the second time in three years, it was the season of Steven Alker. With a runner-up finish at the season finale, Alker cemented the season-long Charles Schwab Cup title on the strength of a win and 16 top-10 finishes in 22 starts, a staggering mark of consistency for the New Zealander who turned 50 without any status on PGA TOUR Champions but quickly assumed a dominant place on the 50-and-over circuit. Alker won the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, his eighth Champions Tour title, and although it took until the season’s conclusion for his next piece of hardware, it was worth the wait. “It’s been a heck of a ride just to get here and win another one,” Alker said afterward. “Just competing with Bernhard and everybody out here on the Champions Tour, it's just made me a better player. I'm very grateful for that."

FedExCup Fall makes penultimate stop in paradise

The seventh of eight FedExCup Fall events continues on international soil this week with the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda, will host one of the final opportunities for players to secure their status for next season and earn valuable FedExCup points. Last year, Camilo Villegas broke a nine-year winless drought with an emotional triumph in the tropical destination. Villegas returns along with names like Joel Dahmen, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria and Maverick McNealy all fighting for position in the FedExCup standings. The Bryan Bros will tee it up together for the second time, with Wesley Bryan heading to Bermuda fresh off a tie for sixth in Mexico and George Bryan returning to the site of his first PGA TOUR start.

Video of the week

Mic check

"I want to keep my job out here. My story is not finished." – Joel Dahmen, who finished T14 at the World Wide Technology Championship to move from No. 124 to No. 121 on the FedExCup Fall standings as he fights to retain fully exempt status via the top 125 after The RSM Classic.

By the numbers

229 - The 229th-ranked Paul Waring carded a 6-under 66 to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship for the biggest victory of his career, moving closer to securing a PGA TOUR card via a top-10 finish on the DP World Tour Race to Dubai Rankings.

13 - Austin Eckroat switched to a new putter, the Ping PLD DZB custom, for his first win with a different putter since the age of 13.