RELATED: Steve Alker’s caddie diagnosed with terminal cancer

On the course, Alker shared that experience with his caddie Sam Workman. The pair had grown close since they started working together in 2019, which made Alker’s Instagram announcement on Tuesday about his 55-year-old friend particularly sad and painful.

“Words cannot describe the sudden passing of Sam Workman from his fight with cancer on February 6, 2023. You will be missed by so many. It has been a privilege walking the fairways with you ‘my man.’

“Our deepest condolences go out to Sam’s family and his closest friends. Thoughts and prayers are with you at this time of sorrow. RIP Sam 1967-2023.”

It was only last week that Alker took to social media to announce that Workman had been diagnosed with terminal cancer

According to The Caddie Network, Workman took up the game at age 6 and played junior college golf before becoming a teaching pro and eventually running a municipal course in Texas. He got into caddieing when Brad Elder asked him to carry his bag in a qualifier in the 1990s and went on to carry for nearly 400 tournaments, mostly on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he connected with Alker.

 

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A post shared by Steven Alker (@alker_traz)

Workman accompanied Alker to the senior tour, where in 2021, Alker Monday qualified for his first start and finished in the top 10. That got him in the next event, and he repeated that remarkable accomplishment five more times before grabbing a late season win and a full card. That was the first time Workman had been on the bag for a victory.

According to PGATour.com, the Korn Ferry Tour will hold a tribute for Workman on Wednesday morning prior to this week’s Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia. Players, caddies and staff will gather for a moment of remembrance.

Players on PGA Tour Champions also will wear ribbons in Thursday’s opening round at the Morocco Champions in Workman’s memory.

The post Steve Alker’s caddie Sam Workman passes away from cancer appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

On the course, Alker shared that experience with his caddie Sam Workman. The pair have grown close since they started working together in 2019, which is what made Alker’s announcement on Instagram last week about his 55-year-old friend both shocking and painful.

“Sam Workman has been much more than just a professional golf caddie to me the last four years. He has been a friend, a motivator, a decision maker and a fighter. We’ve had some tough times and, as of late, some really good times. He’s been like an older brother to me since we first got connected in 2019.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share the devastating news that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Our hearts are broken for Sam and his family as they process this information, but in this uncertain time, we want them to know that they are not alone.”

According to The Caddie Network, Workman took up the game at age 6 and played junior college golf before becoming a teaching pro and eventually running a municipal course in Texas. He got into caddieing when Brad Elder asked him to carry his bag in a qualifier in the 1990s and went on to carry for nearly 400 tournaments, mostly on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he connected with Alker.

Workman accompanied Alker to the senior tour, where in 2021, Alker Monday qualified for his first start and finished in the top 10. That got him in the next event, and he repeated that remarkable accomplishment five more times before grabbing a late season win and a full card. That was the first time Workman had been on the bag for a victory.

Alker noted on Instagram: “Please join me and my family in sending out prayers to Sam and the Workman family in his time of need. He is surrounded with well wishes and much love from ‘Team Alker’ and could use even more, from old friends, new friends, Tour friends and family.”

 

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A post shared by Steve Alker (@alker_traz)

The post PGA Tour champion Steve Alker’s caddie diagnosed with terminal cancer appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Fifteen months ago, Alker had no senior tour status, Monday qualifying to secure his first start. He finished T-7 that week at the Boeing Classic, beginning a run of six straight top-10 finishes that rolled into a victory in the second-to-last event of 2021.

Proving his early success on the 50-and-older circuit was no fluke, Alker continued to impressive in 2022, winning three times and posting seven top-fives in the first nine starts — including claiming a major title at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. The perennial journeyman — Alker had made 86 career PGA Tour starts without a top 10 and with 47 missed cuts plus 80 European Tour starts with one top-10 and 42 missed cuts — was suddenly unbeatable. He added one more title in October and posted nine more top-fives in his last 14 starts.

Alker’s dominant play — he finished 2022 with a 68.2 average in 75 rounds — gave him such a big lead on the 2022 points list heading into the last event in Phoenix that he could become the season-long champion even if Harrington, the No. 2 man in the standings, won. Alker just needed to finish in the top five of the 33-player field; a closing 68 for a 19-under 265 total got the job done.

“Just a lot of hard yards,” Alker said when thinking of what he’d gone through to get to this point. “You know, I’ve played everywhere and I think that kind of helped today in a way just playing the PGA Tour and Australasia and Asia and Korn Ferry. I’ve played everywhere. It’s been an amazing journey and just to be here and to have this opportunity has been amazing.”

Winning the year-long series title secured Alker another $1 million on top of the $210,000 he made for finishing third. His final on-course earnings, separate for the Schwab Cup bonus, was $3.5 million.

Harrington was smiling, too, after closing out a final-round 65 for a 27-under 257 total and a seven-shot win over Alex Cjeka. Harrington’s score broke the PGA Tour Champions’ record for lowest 72-hole aggregate, set by Tom Lehman at the 2012 Schwab Cup Championship, and tied the lowest score in relation to par set by Jack Nicklaus at the 1990 Mazda Senior Tournament Players Championship. It marked Harrington’s fourth win of the 2022, matching Alker for most on the year.

Happy enough with his performance, Harrington knew there was another big winner on Sunday.

“Steven is a truly deserving winner this year,” he said. “It’s not like he’s just some flash in the pan at the end of the year and won a couple events and all of a sudden won the Schwab Cup. The pressure has been on him right from the start of the year all the way through. He had a lead and several of us were catching him all year. It’s very impressive that he’s not just held on, but he’s won in style.”

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The post Steven Alker, Padraig Harrington walk away the big winners at the PGA Tour Champions finale appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Following Alker’s fifth career PGA Tour Champions victory at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, he dropped the tournament’s prize. And nearly gave one of the tournament executives a heart attack in the process.

OK, so that last part is a bit of hyperbole, but watch the guy holding the mic in the jacket and tie clutch his chest as Alker loses control of the trophy. A trophy made out of glass, at that. He looks like he’s about to drop to the ground with it!

The first mistake Steven Alker has made all year ? pic.twitter.com/2XovoGZzrj

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 24, 2022

Whoops. Although, as you can see everyone wound up having a good laugh at the mishap — even that guy — as the trophy somehow didn’t break. That’s some quality glass craftmanship there. And we also got the best screengrab of the golf season out of the situation:

Steve Alker. PGA Tour

Glad to see everyone involved with the tournament is OK. Phew. Alker’s fairy-tale season — and that trophy — are still intact.

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