Steven Craig Alker (born 28 July 1971) is a

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

who plays on the

PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many yea ...

, where he has won five events. He won the season-long 2022 Charles Schwab Cup on the

Early life and professional career

Alker was born in

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato, Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the count ...

. Alker turned professional in 1995 and has competed on several

tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metr ...

around the world. He has been a member of the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for Official World ...

since 1995. He played on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fif ...

in 1998 and 1999, also competing on Europe's developmental

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History ...

in 1999. In 2000, he won the

Canadian Tour PGA Tour Canada, commonly referred to as the Canadian Tour, is a men's professional golf tour headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The United States based PGA Tour took over operation of the tour on November 1, 2012, at which time it was renamed PG ...

Order of Merit, before moving to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

to compete on the Nationwide Tour in 2002. He was successful enough to graduate to the full

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

in 2003, but was unable to retain his card and returned to the development tour from 2004 to 2006. In 2007 and 2008, he went back to Europe to play on the European and Challenge tours. He returned to the Nationwide Tour (now Web.com Tour) in 2009. At the 2014 Cleveland Open on the Web.com Tour, Alker beat Dawie van der Walt on the 11th playoff hole, a tour record for longest playoff. He finished 20th in the Web.com Tour Finals to earn his PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season. In 2016, Alker played in

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

after tying for second place in the Final Qualifying event held at the

Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club is an 18-hole links golf course in southeastern England, in the town of Deal in the County of Kent (the course is often known simply as "Deal"). Founded in 1892, its name derives from Deal's membership of an ancient ...

. In November 2021, Alker won the

TimberTech Championship :''There was also a tournament by the same name now called the Principal Charity Classic'' The Boca Raton Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour Champions. Since 2007, it has been played at the Old Course at Broken Sound Club in Boca R ...

on the

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

. With the win, Alker had earned $896,207 in nine senior tournaments after turning 50 years of age in July 2021. This amount was more than he made in his PGA Tour career. Alker continued this form into the 2022 season, recording wins at the

Rapiscan Systems Classic The Rapiscan Systems Classic is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour Champions in southern Mississippi. It debuted in 2010 at Fallen Oak Golf Club in Saucier, north of Biloxi. The tournament is sponsored by Rapiscan Systems. The purse in 2019 was $ ...

and the Insperity Invitational. He also finished runner-up at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and the ClubCorp Classic; losing in a playoff on both occasions. In May 2022, Alker won his first senior major championship at the 2022 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at

The Golf Club at Harbor Shores The Golf Club at Harbor Shores is a golf club located in Benton Harbor, Michigan, part of the Harbor Shores development on Lake Michigan. History All 18 holes of the course were opened on July 1, 2010. The course held its Grand Opening on July 10 ...

Benton Harbor, Michigan Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is 46 miles southwest of Kalamazoo and 71 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. According to the 2020 census, its population was 9,103. It is the smaller, by population, of ...

. Alker shot a final round 63 to win the championship by three strokes. This was his third win in five starts and fourth in 19 as a senior. In November 2022, Alker finished third at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship which secured him first place in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup and the $1,000,000 first prize. He also won the Arnold Palmer Award for the season-long money title and the Byron Nelson Award for the lowest scoring average for the 2022 season.

Professional wins (16)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (3)

¹Co-sanctioned by the Nationwide Tour PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (0–1)

Web.com Tour wins (4)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Web.com Tour playoff record (3–1)

Canadian Tour wins (2)

Australasian Development Tour wins (1)

Other wins (2)

*1995 Fiji Open *1996 Tahiti Open

PGA Tour Champions wins (5)

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (0–2)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in senior major championships

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

Amateur *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eise ...

(representing New Zealand):

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

Nomura Cup The Nomura Cup, also known as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship, is a biennial amateur team golf championship for men organised by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation. The inaugural event was held in 1963 and it has been played in odd- ...

(representing New Zealand): 1991, 1993 * Sloan Morpeth Trophy (representing New Zealand): 1990, 1991, 1992 (winners) Professional * Dunhill Cup (representing New Zealand):

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alker, Steven New Zealand male golfers PGA Tour of Australasia golfers PGA Tour golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Winners of senior major golf championships Korn Ferry Tour graduates Sportspeople from Hamilton, New Zealand People from Fountain Hills, Arizona Sportspeople from the Phoenix metropolitan area 1971 births Living people