Steven Alker is entitled to be emotional at any time this week. It’s normal.
Alker shot a 66 in the first round of Friday’s Insperity Invitational at The Woodlands Country Club with his son Ben making his debut as his caddie and the family of fallen caddie Sam Workman present. He moved to the top of the leaderboard, alongside Justin Leonard, Colin Montgomerie, and Justin Leonard.
The New Zealander’s 2022 victory on this course was special. But, given the circumstances, it would be even more meaningful if he were to win again.
Workman and Alker had been working together since 2019 in the Bahamas on the Korn Ferry Tour. In Alker’s own words, Workman was “a motivator and decision maker.”
Alker and Workman experienced Alker’s dramatic rise together, from Alker grinding on the Korn Ferry Tour at his late 40s to him dominating the PGA Tour Champions 2022. They also won the Charles Schwab Cup for the entire season. Alker, who is 51, had a meteoric rise last season. He won four events and was second in another four.
Alker had announced earlier in the year that Workman was terminally ill.
Alker stated in February, at the Chubb Classic: “He complained about some pains and had a few issues.” Workman was diagnosed with liver cancer which spread to his stomach. Alker, who had spent the majority of the time with Workman at his Beeville, Texas home, was still mourning his loss a week later. Workman was 55.
Alker was especially happy that Workman could experience his resurgence, which began with his first Champions Tour win at the 2021 TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton.
Alker gave Workman the flag on the 18th green, the first time he was on a bag with a winner.
Each of the PGA Tour Champions golfers wears an Astros medallion in honor of their caddie. He was a big Houston Astros fan.
The first tee shot is in the air. @ChampionsTour players will be paying tribute to Sam Workman the late caddie for defending champ Steven Alker this week by wearing @astros ribbons pic.twitter.com/1dLKdJR9Zo
Insperity Invitational 28 April 2023 HTML0
On Friday, several of Workman’s family and friends made the three-hour journey from Beeville, which is a small city located less than an hour away from Corpus Christi, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Alker acknowledged that the presence of Workman’s Crew was significant.
It means a lot. Today, we’ve had a lot. Alker added that we’ll have more tomorrow. The ribbons were a nice touch and it was great to see some family members out today.
Alker, starting on the back nine of the course, birdied four out of the six first holes, getting off to a great start. He did this with his son, who was making his debut. This allowed them to spend some quality time together.
It is special. Alker, speaking before Friday’s match, said, “It is special.
How did he do?
He did fantastic. It’s his first round of competition. Alker stated, “We’ve had some fun rounds but he was fantastic.” “The ball was clean at all times. We had some spot-on yardages. Today, he actually measured some yards. It was fantastic. “He did very well, yeah.”
This post was contributed by Tom D’Angelo, a Palm Beach Post columnist and reporter.
