Trailing former Open Champion Stewart Cink by four strokes at the start of the final round in Washington, Allan didn’t take the lead until he got up-and-down from the bunker for birdie on the 18th hole to round out a 7-under 65 and post 15-under par.

It was then a waiting game, Cink making par at both of his final holes to come up one stroke short and secure Allan his third title in his past 13 starts in just his second year on the seniors circuit.

Given he hadn’t won anywhere since the 2002 Australian Open in his home state, it’s a run the 51-year-old is finding hard to fathom.

“I can’t explain it actually,” Allan said immediately after his victory.

“I would have probably laughed if you told me I would have won three times. I definitely thought that I had a win in me, but I wouldn’t have said three.

“I think I found a bit of a groove with my swing. I think I’m more aware of what I’m doing wrong when it goes wrong.

“I had a fairly tough few years there so when things do start to go wrong there, I’m not panicking anymore.

“Beginning of last year I had a few tournaments where I didn’t play very well, so I’m going into today, just let it happen.

“I’m not trying to force it, I’m not trying to push it, I’m just trying to play.”

Allan becomes just the fifth Australian with three or more wins in a single season on the Champions Tour, joining Peter Thomson (nine wins in 1985), Bruce Crampton (seven wins in 1986, four wins in 1987), David Graham (three wins in 1997) and Graham Marsh (three wins in 1997).

Allan’s earlier wins came at The Galleri Classic at Mission Hills in March and the DICK’S Open last month in New York, his latest victory taking his prizemoney haul for the year past the million-dollar mark.

Given the quality of company he now keeps on the Champions Tour, Allan began the final round with few expectations that a third win was in the offing.

“With Stewart being in that position, he could win by just having a really good round and we just have to sort of play well,” he added.

“In some ways it frees you up because you’re not really thinking about winning, you’re just trying to have a good round.

“When I birdied the ninth I saw that he hadn’t jumped out ahead, so it was going to be a chance so just had to knuckle down and played pretty well on the back nine.

“A couple long putts were really good to help me make easy pars after not good approach shots and then rolled in a few birdies.”

As Allan added to his winning tally, David Micheluzzi made a welcome return to form on the DP World Tour.

With just one top-20 finish to his name since the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, Micheluzzi bounced back from two early bogeys to shoot 1-under 71 in the final round of the Nexo Championship in Scotland and move up eight spots into a tie for 10th.

Jason Day is the lone Aussie left in the FedEx Cup Playoffs after the FedEx St Jude Championship saw Min Woo Lee and Cam Davis both bow out.

Dropping from 37th to 44th, Day now has work to do to qualify for the Tour Championship reserved for the top 30 after the BMW Championship, Kiwi Ryan Fox needing a small jump from his current position of 32nd.

Photo: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Results

PGA TOUR
FedEx St Jude Championship
TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee
1          Justin Rose       64-66-67-67—264       $US3.6m
T50      Ryan Fox (NZ)   72-71-68-69—280       $49,300
T50      Cam Davis       69-72-67-72—280       $49,300
T56      Jason Day        71-68-71-72—282       $45,800
T68      Min Woo Lee    76-72-72-70—290       $41,200

DP World Tour
Nexo Championship
Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
1          Grant Forrest               71-66-71-72—280       €401,607.28
T10      David Micheluzzi          71-71-75-71—288       €43,783.07
T31      Elvis Smylie                  73-72-75-73—293       €17,095.15
T42      Jason Scrivener            76-71-77-70—294       €12,756.94
MC       Kazuma Kobori            74-78—152
MC       Danny List                    78-79—157
MC       Daniel Gale                  83-78—161
MC       Brett Coletta                80-82—162

LIV Golf
LIV Golf Chicago
Bolingbrook Golf Club, Chicago
1          Dean Burmester           68-65-71—204 $US4m
T13      Marc Leishman            71-69-70—210 $311,250
T25      Lucas Herbert               69-71-72—212 $187,500
T29      Cameron Smith            71-73-69—213 $165,000
T47      Ben Campbell (NZ)       73-70-74—217 $121,500
T49      Matt Jones                   75-69-74—218 $60,000
51        Danny Lee (NZ)            72-71-76—219 $60,000

Ladies European Tour
PIF London Championship
Centurion Club, England
1          Laura Fuenfstueck        67-70-72—209 €192,997.13
T25      Momoka Kobori (NZ)   72-71-74—217 €14,950.84
T30      Amelia Garvey (NZ)      72-75-71—218 €12,030.16
T49      Kirsten Rudgeley          73-74-75—222 €5,194.84        
T49      Kelsey Bennett             71-73-78—222 €5,194.84        
T59      Sarah Kemp                 75-74-75—224 €3,924.28

PGA TOUR Champions
Boeing Classic
The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, Washington
1          Steve Allan                   68-68-65—201
T14      Brendan Jones             69-73-67—209
T14      Steven Alker (NZ)         67-68-74—209
T30      Michael Wright            71-73-69—213
T30      Stuart Appleby             69-73-71—213
T37      David Bransdon           72-74-68—214
T62      Richard Green              71-71-79—221
T65      Rod Pampling              70-76-76—222
T71      Mark Hensby               77-74-73—224
T73      John Senden                73-76-77—226
DQ       Greg Chalmers             69-71

Korn Ferry Tour
Pinnacle Bank Championship
The Club at Indian Creek, Omaha, Nebraska
1          Christo Lamprecht       67-67-65-66—265       $US180,000
T18      Harry Hillier (NZ)          65-68-68-73—274       $13,538
T28      Rhein Gibson               68-70-68-71—277       $6,491

HotelPlanner Tour
Irish Challenge
Killeen Castle, Co. Meath, Ireland
1          Oihan Guillamoundeguy          71-67-69-70—277       €48,000
MC       Hayden Hopewell                    76-70—146
MC       Sam Jones (NZ)                        76-73—149
MC       Tom Power Horan                    77-76—153

LET Access Series
Ahlsell Trophy by Destination Jonkoping
Gränna Golfklubb, Sweden
1          Amaia Latorre              72-70-66—208 €7,200
T13      Abbie Teasdale             74-71-71—216 €831.60
T45      Belinda Ji                      73-75-76—224 €279
MC       Justice Bosio                77-74—151

Sunshine Tour
FNB Eswatini Challenge
Arabella Country Club, Eswatini, South Africa
1          Michael Hollick            68-64-68—200
T19      Austin Bautista             69-66-73—208

PGA TOUR Americas
BioSteel Championship
Ambassador Golf Club, Windsor, Ontario
1          Michael Brennan          61-65-65-64—255       $40,500
MC       Tony Chen                    68-68—136
MC       Grant Booth                 69-70—139