Alvaro Ortiz survived a wild final round, then beat Ross Steelman in a playoff to win the UNC Health Championship.
Alvaro Ortiz finally has his Korn Ferry Tour breakthrough, and he made sure it came with plenty of drama.
Ortiz birdied the first hole of a sudden-death playoff against Ross Steelman on Sunday to win the UNC Health Championship, earning his first Korn Ferry Tour title in his 84th career start.
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The 30-year-old from Mexico finished at 10 under, then delivered when it mattered most on the par-4 18th.
It wasn’t exactly a clean ride to the trophy.
Ortiz entered the final round with the lead but stumbled badly with double bogeys at Nos. 2 and 11.
That kind of Sunday usually sends a player tumbling out of contention. Instead, Ortiz fought his way back with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to shoot 2-over 72 and force extra holes with Steelman.
Then he finished the job.
The win pushes Ortiz to No. 14 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List and gives him a major boost in his push toward a PGA TOUR card.
He’s now 12 starts into the season with one win and one top-10 finish.
Ortiz had been knocking on the door at the UNC Health Championship before, with a previous best finish of T4 in 2024.
This week, he added even more fireworks, including a hole-in-one during the third round on the par-3 sixth with a 2-iron from 259 yards.
He also shot a career-low 8-under 62 in the second round.
Steelman nearly stole it after starting Sunday six shots back. He fired a 4-under 66 and posted the best Korn Ferry Tour finish of his career in his 64th start.
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Tyler Wilkes tied for third at 8 under, while Turk Pettit and Logan McAllister finished tied for fifth at 6 under.
But Sunday belonged to Ortiz, who turned a messy final round into a career-changing win.
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