Andy DevaneyThe NI Legends 2026 reaches its final round with precisely the sort of leaderboard tournament organisers pretend to plan.
Steven Alker and David Drysdale are tied at 10 under at Galgorm, two shots clear of Alastair Forsyth and with 15 players still within five of the lead. The arithmetic is tidy. The golf is unlikely to be.
Alker keeps winning habits close at hand
Alker arrived in Northern Ireland chasing a third consecutive victory after back-to-back wins on the PGA Tour Champions, and he has carried that form rather efficiently into Galgorm.
A second successive 67 took him to 10 under, although this was not simply a repeat performance with different pin positions.
Three shots gained on his opening nine put him in command early, but the moment that mattered came at the last. After missing the green with his approach and then playing a poor pitch, Alker holed from 10 feet for birdie to secure the clubhouse lead.
“Same score but I did it differently,” said Alker. “It actually felt like I hit the ball better today than yesterday and didn’t get the result, but that’s golf. Thankfully, I made it up at the end.
Making that putt on 18 was big for the confidence for sure. I hit two shots in there and thought I’d be on the green, then hit a poor pitch — and to make that putt just makes lunch taste a bit better.”
That last line is vintage tournament golf: a considerable amount of tension compressed into the quality of lunch.
Drysdale answers with the cleanest card in the field
Alker’s lead lasted only a few minutes. Drysdale, playing in the group behind alongside Peter Baker, struck an excellent approach into the 18th and converted the birdie to join him at 10 under.
There is a useful contrast between the co-leaders. Alker is riding a winning streak. Drysdale has been searching for something more elusive.
The Scot won the Vattanac Legends in Cambodia in November and began 2026 with a tie for sixth at the Barbados Legends and second place at the Legends Tour Trophy in Greece. His form cooled afterwards. At Galgorm, it has returned with unusual neatness: Drysdale is the only player in the field without a bogey through 36 holes.
For a player who made almost 600 appearances on the DP World Tour, that is not so much flashy as professionally irritating to everyone trying to catch him.
“I didn’t actually know that, but there you go,” said Drysdale, who made almost 600 appearances on the DP World Tour. “It’s always good to be bogey-free. Yesterday was much tougher with the wind, so I felt like I played a bit better then, but I’m obviously very happy with that score after two days.”
Forsyth leads a crowded queue behind
The final round is not merely a two-man arrangement. Alastair Forsyth sits at eight under, two behind, while Greg Owen, Anthony Wall, Phillip Archer and Thomas Gögele are another shot back at seven under.
Peter Baker, Robert Coles and Matt Cort are at six under, and the broader picture is more important than any single name: 15 players are within five shots of the lead.
Saturday offered considerably more encouragement to the chasing pack than the opening round. The scoring average was two shots better than on day one, and Hennie Otto produced the lowest round of the week with a seven-under 65 before Greg Owen matched it.
If those conditions persist, defending a lead by standing still will be a particularly poor strategy.
Cameron Clark gives the home crowd something to follow
Local interest has its own Sunday subplot. Ballymena-born Cameron Clark shot 67, giving the home supporters a player with genuine momentum to follow into the final day.
His round ensured the galleries have another compelling number to watch as the leaders make their way around Galgorm. On a day when scoring became markedly easier, local encouragement had rather more to work with than polite applause and optimism.
One round, two very different kinds of momentum
Alker’s recent record makes him the obvious danger. He knows what winning feels like because he has barely had time to forget. Drysdale’s case is different: patience, clean cards and a return to the steadiness that carried him through hundreds of DP World Tour starts.
The two also know each other well, which removes the novelty but not the pressure.
“Steven [Alker] and I go way back. We’ve known each other for a good few years, and he’s done amazingly well since joining the Champions Tour and is coming into this off the back of back-to-back wins.
Being tied with him is great, and I look forward to the challenge. You just want to give yourself a chance, don’t you — that’s really the plan. Keep it as simple as possible and see where that gets you with a few holes to go on Sunday.
I’ll play the same game, one shot at a time, the old saying: just give yourself a few looks and see what happens.”
Simple enough in theory. By Sunday afternoon at Galgorm, simplicity may be the hardest club in the bag.
