Rod Pampling earns wire-to-wire win at SAS Championship

Rod Pampling of Australia cruised to a final-round 67 and won the SAS Championship on Sunday in Cary, N.C.

Pampling finished at 15-under 201, two shots better than Steven Alker of New Zealand, at the PGA Tour Champions' regular-season finale.

After rain wreaked havoc on the second round Saturday at Prestonwood Country Club, players returned Sunday morning to complete their rounds before taking the third and final trip around the course in the afternoon.

Pampling played 33 holes Sunday and bogeyed just two of them.

The 18-hole leader, Pampling finished his second round birdie-birdie to move to 10 under and take a one-shot lead over Alker, Vijay Singh of Fiji and Paul Broadhurst of England.

Pampling then broke free from the pack with birdies at Nos. 3, 7, 8, 10, 14 and 17. His bid for a bogey-free round came up short when he missed a putt at the 18th.

Pampling's only other PGA Tour Champions win came at the 2021 Boeing Classic.

"It's awesome," Pampling said on the Golf Channel broadcast. "We've been working hard and it's finally -- we got rid of our bad stuff about a month and a half ago, and it's just been getting closer and closer. And then this week was just a great ball-striking (week), putting was well. ... It's a great feeling to win again, that's for sure."

The man who came closest to Pampling was Alker, who carded five birdies and a bogey in his final round for a 4-under 68. He placed second at last week's Constellation Furyk & Friends, as well.

"Second's nice, but that's not nice when you're trying to win," Alker said. "I was pleased just to carry on from where I was last week, just carry on. Didn't quite have it all day today. I just didn't hit it as close as the first days."

Mario Tiziani rang up seven birdies without a bogey for a final-round 65. He tied for third at 11 under with Ernie Els of South Africa, who shot 68 Sunday.