Alker won at the course where Sam Workman caddied for him a year ago for the last time before dying of cancer.
Steven Alker picked up right where he left off, winning the PGA Tour Champions’ season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.
Alker, who won the Charles Schwab Championship to wrap up the 2023 season in November, fired a second straight 9-under 63 at Hualalai Golf Course on Saturday to shoot a 54-hole total of 25-under 191, and win by four strokes over Harrison Frazar and five over last year’s Charles Schwab Cup champion Steve Stricker.
“I knew Stricker and Harrison were going to come at me, so just kept the pedal to the metal,” Alker said.
It wasn’t lost on Alker, 52, that a year ago he finished tied for second on the Big Island with caddie Sam Workman on the bag. Less than three weeks later, the 55-year-old Workman died on Feb. 6 of cancer. When Alker arrived at the course on Tuesday, he was greeted by a rainbow in the sky and during the final round he was the beneficiary of a fortuitous bounce at the par-5 seventh hole when his second shot, a 4-iron from 218 yards, sailed right of the green, bounced off the cart path twice and ricocheted off lava and on to the green about 40 feet left of the hole. He proceeded to drain the putt for an unlikely eagle. Alker couldn’t see it from his vantage point but when he was shown video of the shot later, he credited “good karma.”
Exactly one year ago, Sam Workman caddied for Steven Alker here (Hualalai) in what turned out to be Sam’s last event ever. He passed away a week later from cancer. This morning, we were greeted with this rainbow #SamWorkman#TeamAlker#Hualalaipic.twitter.com/Ws01q8Jukd
“Someone said it kind of kicked off the path and rolled up and went left. Just a fortunate break,” he said. “I was surprised to see it on the left side of the green. Thought it must have hit either someone or something. It could have gone anywhere.
“As I said in my speech, sometimes it goes one way and last year, a couple years ago it goes the other way, so it all kind of works out in the end,” he added. “Made that putt, which was huge.”
Said Stricker, who collected his PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year Award earlier in the week: “You get a bounce like that, and capitalize like that, it’s kind of your day.”
With veteran caddie Troy Martin ably filling the shoes of Workman on the bag, Alker followed up the eagle at seven with a birdie at eight to build a three-shot cushion and never looked back, matching the low 54-hole score in PGA Tour Champions history.
Steven Alker of New Zealand reacts as he sinks his birdie putt on the 18th green to win the PGA Tour Champions Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Course on Jan. 20, 2024 in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Among the well-wishers to congratulate the New Zealand native on his eighth career Champions Tour win in just 54 starts was Germany’s Bernhard Langer.
“Starting off the way you finished,” Langer said. “Good for you. Pretty special.”
“We’ve got the rust off anyway, Bernhard,” Alker responded.
“Well, I’ve got work to do, but you got it,” Langer said.
Alker, who has at least one win in each of his four seasons, dating back to 2021, has found that winning way.
The world of golf indeed lost some true legends in 2023.
A caddie who expertly worked the grill on the back of his truck.
An Augusta National Golf Club caddie who became the unofficial historian for Masters loopers.
The longtime starter at the British Open who famously never took a bathroom break between the first tee time and the last.
The winner of the first-ever PGA Tour Champions event.
A four-time U.S. Women’s Open champion.
The world of golf indeed lost some true legends in 2023. From players to caddies, course designers to teachers, to many others who contributed their life’s work to the game.
Here’s a closer look at those the world of golf goodbye to this year.
The Insperity Invitational was inspirational for Steven Alker.
The Insperity Invitational was inspirational for Steven Alker.
Earlier this year, Alker’s caddie Sam Workman died less than three weeks removed from caddying a second-place finish in Hawaii to open the 2023 season. Workman passed away on Feb. 6 from cancer at his home in Beeville, Texas, about 100 miles south of San Antonio, a “sudden passing” according to Alker in a post on Instagram.
This week, dozens of Workman’s family and friends made their way to The Woodlands Country Club near Houston to follow Alker and root him on.
“Great support. We had a nice dinner last night,” Alker said after his round Saturday. “I think there’s some more folks from Beeville and Silsbee, so it was a good crowd out there, had good support.”
In honor of Workman this week, PGA Tour Champions players wore ribbons with the Houston Astros logo, Workman’s favorite baseball team.
A Houston Astros logo on the hat of Steven Alker in honor of his caddie Sam Workman during the final round of the 2023 Insperity Invitational at The Woodlands Golf Club in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo: Tim Heitman/Getty Images)
The Workman gallery must have made a difference, as Alker cruised to a four-shot victory, his first in 2023.
Alker started the day at 9 under and leading by three. In his final round, he had a birdie and nine pars his first 10 holes but the field never really threatened to track him down. Steve Stricker did get it to 11 under but Alker caught fire late with birdies on Nos. 11, 12, 13, 15 and 17 to get to 15 under. He closed with a par on 18 for a final-round 66.
“It’s huge,” he said. “You can see the emotion on 18. I just saw a sea of orange today, just reminded me of Sam.”
The orange was in reference to Workman’s family and friends all wearing Houston Astros jerseys.
Workman saw first-hand Alker’s amazing late-in-golf-life run to the top of the PGA Tour Champions. He was the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup after winning four times while also notching 18 top 10s in 23 starts.
Alker, who has now won the Insperity in back-to-back seasons, had his son on the bag for the first time this week, as Ben Alker made his debut as a caddie. The duo saw immediate dividends with an opening-round 66. Alker shot a second-round 69 and closed with another 66 to cap off a memorable week.
“My son was on the bag today,” Alker added. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Winning the 2022 Insperity Invitational was special, but a repeat might hold even more sentimental value.
Pardon Steven Alker if his emotions get a hold of him at some point this week. It’s only natural.
With his son, Ben, making his debut on his bag and family members of fallen caddie Sam Workman in attendance at The Woodlands Country Club, Alker fired a 66 during Friday’s first round of the Insperity Invitational, moving to the top of a packed leaderboard alongside Justin Leonard and Colin Montgomerie.
Winning the 2022 title on this golf course was special, but considering the circumstances, a repeat might hold even more sentimental value for the native of New Zealand.
Together, they experienced Alker’s dramatic rise from grinding on the Korn Ferry Tour in his late 40s (Alker’s last event on the PGA Tour was 2017) to dominating the PGA Tour Champions in 2022 and winning the season-long Charles Schwab Cup. Alker, 51, won four events, was second in four others and had 18 top 10s in 23 starts last season, a meteoric rise in which Workman played a big part.
But earlier this year, Alker announced that Workman had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“He was complaining about some pain and having a few problems,” Alker said in February at the Chubb Classic. Workman had liver cancer that spread to his stomach. A week later, Alker was mourning the loss of his closest mate on the course after spending most of that time by Workman’s side at his home in Beeville, Texas. Workman was 55.
Alker is especially grateful Workman was able to experience his resurgence that started with his first win on the Champions Tour, the 2021 TimberTech Championship at Broken Sound in Boca Raton.
It was the first time Workman was on the bag of a winner and Alker presented him the flag from the 18th green.
In honor of the caddie, who was a huge Houston Astros fan, each of the PGA Tour Champions players is wearing an Astros ribbon in his honor.
The first tee shots are 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 (@InsperityInvtnl) April 28, 2023
And on Friday, a number of Workman’s friends and family members made the three-hour trek from Beeville, a small town that sits less than an hour from Corpus Christi and the Gulf of Mexico.
When asked what it meant to see Workman’s crew on hand, Alker admitted it was significant.
“(It means) a whole lot. We’ve got a bunch today. We’re going to have even more tomorrow, some of the Beeville crowd,” Alker said. “The ribbons are a nice touch, and great to have some of the family out, so good support today.”
Alker, who started on the back nine, rolled in birdies on four of the first six holes to get out to a hot start. And he did so with his son making his debut, something that allowed for some quality bonding time.
“It is special. Obviously, just the time, spending the time together,” Alker said prior to Friday’s round.
And how did he fare?
“He did fantastic. This really is his first competitive round. We’ve done some fun rounds, but he was great.” Alker said. “The ball was always clean. We had some spot-on yardages. He actually did some yardages today. It was great. Yeah, he did very, very well.”
Reporter and columnist Tom D’Angelo of the Palm Beach Post contributed to this post.
Workman’s passing came just three weeks after caddying a second-place finish in Hawaii.
Sam Workman, caddie for PGA Tour Champions golfer Steven Alker, died Monday less than three weeks removed from caddying a second-place finish in Hawaii to open the 2023 season.
Workman passed away Monday at his home in Beeville, Texas, about 100 miles south of San Antonio, from cancer, a “sudden passing” according to Alker in a post on Instagram.
The following is a submission from John Rathouz, a fellow caddie and good friend of Workman:
Somewhere in heaven, Sam Workman is grilling barbeque pork tenderloin on the tailgate of his pickup truck. At least that’s what I like to think our friend is up to now.
It was one of his favorite things to do, something he’d done hundreds of times in his life, and I was fortunate enough to experience it, in all its glory, one spring evening in the parking lot of a Best Western in Greenville, South Carolina.
Sam Workman, far right, works the grill on the back of his truck.
It was truly one of the most fun, best-tasting meals I’ve had in all of my years caddying. It was simple. It was life on the road. As Sam and I reminisced on a podcast last October, he said he enjoyed it because it was a chance to “hang out with your friends… cook it slow and have a couple of dirty waters and raise hell with your partnas.”
He’ll always remain as “Sam BBQ Workman” in my phone contacts.
Perhaps Sam is grilling for fellow Texans, fellow caddies, fellow professionals Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan. Always humble, maybe he’ll sprinkle in a story here or there about the spectacular run he’d just been on over the last 18 months as the looper for Steven Alker on the PGA Tour Champions: five tournament wins and the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup Champion and Player of the Year.
It’s likely my favorite streak of “flag collecting” by a caddie friend ever. A little over two weeks ago, Steven and Sam picked right up where they left off, finishing second to start the season in Hawaii.
However, as I came to find out since then, Sam wasn’t feeling well in Hawaii and hadn’t been, on and off, since the holiday season, when caddies finally get out from under the strap. So it was that he returned home from paradise to find out that he had cancer. Devastating.
When I spoke with Sam that Friday, Jan. 27, he sounded weak, nearly out of breath, but his unique South Texas drawl was still punching through the phone. Our conversation was only five minutes, and I briefly tried to chip away at his disappointment that he wouldn’t be able to caddie again this year. I made a note to check on him again the next Friday, Feb. 3.
But as his friend and pro, Alker, so eloquently wrote to the golf world last Friday, Sam had received an even-worse “terminal” diagnosis in the meantime. Heartbreaking. This past Sunday, I walked to our neighborhood church and lit a few candles for Sam. Barely knowing what to do, I reached for a random prayer card nearby and proceeded to read the “Daily Prayer to St. Joseph, the Worker.” Damn, this is fitting I thought. Sam WORK-MAN.
It read, in part, “…to work with thankfulness and joy, deeming it an honor to employ and to develop, by my labor, the gifts I have received…” Religious or not, I think Sam’s friends and family would all agree, that passage described Sam the man, and the caddie.
An hour earlier, I had been added to a text chain from Sam’s sister, Michele. I recognized most of the names, some were “blasts from the past” and some of the numbers I didn’t have. I assumed they were mostly caddies, and the outpouring of support to Sam and Michele was palpable, full of love and respect.
At one point, Michele posted a picture of a Houston Astros jersey that Ken Duke, ever the gentleman, had sent to Sam’s house. “Workman”, with the number “1”, it read. Sam was a huge Astros fan and so it seems fitting that they won the World Series in the same year that Team Alker did, too. In fact, earlier last year, Sam also unscrewed the flag in Houston. That was Alker’s third victory on Tour and the middle of a five tournament stretch that went win, second, win, third, win, culminating with the Senior PGA Championship. Of the PGA, Sam told me it was the best golf he’d ever seen Alker play, but the win in Houston was his favorite moment of the year.
There were only two hats I remember seeing Sam wear in all the years I knew him, going back to when he left his job as a club pro at some friends’ course in his hometown of Beeville after receiving a call from Brad Elder to caddie in a Monday qualifier in San Antonio. Sam was on Elder’s bag for many years after that and Elder recalled that those were some of his favorite years a professional, driving around the Tour in Sam’s truck. It’s likely Sam was wearing his Astros hat. Now, for more on his “other” hat.
Steven Alker and caddie Sam Workman on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup at Phoenix Country Club. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic)
On last Monday morning, just in case Sam was up for it, I texted Michele to let her know that the final round of the weather-delayed PGA Tour tournament would be on live from Pebble Beach. As I watched the coverage, I thought of him from time to time, mostly as the broadcast showcased the trademark powerful white waves crashing the jagged shoreline. It was a picturesque winter morning at one of the most spiritual golf courses Mother Nature has created. An hour before the final putt dropped, Michele texted back “I so wish he could,” but that Sam hadn’t been very responsive or even able to open his eyes. I sent back one more text of support and reminded her that I’d always picture Sam in his huge cowboy hat that was 49 percent Mexican sombrero.
She immediately texted back, “The dreaded hat is next to the bed!” That hat was so good. “Over 30 years old,” Sam proudly noted. When he and Steven first made it out on their new Tour, I had heard a story that Ernie Els took a liking to his hat. Sam recalled that Els told him, “That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen out on the Tour. Man, I like it.” If the “Big Easy” says your hat is cool, it’s certain. Recently, Sam had mentioned that the middle of his hat was beginning to cave in and both he and Steven were thinking it might be time for a new one.
Later that evening, Michele relayed the message that we all knew was coming. Sam had peacefully passed away that afternoon. She said, “Mom and I were holding his hand to the end. He loved all of you.” On numerous occasions over the years, I recall Sam talking about how he was “going to visit my mom in Beeville.” And while a mother should never have to be in that position with her child, I took comfort in Michele’s message and was glad they were all together.
It all happened so fast. I’ve learned that there’s more to life than caddying, but the caddie in me is glad that Sam will always be partly remembered as Alker’s trusty sidekick as he motored his way to the top of the sport. When I had Steven on the podcast in October of 2021 after a hot start, and two weeks before his first win out there, he said, “Sammy’s been great. He’s been a trooper. … he’s a good guy. He’s so even-keeled on the golf course. He does good work.”
That’s the exact praise any caddie would hope to hear from their pro and I’m certain their trust in each other and confidence together only grew stronger in the following year.
The last time I saw Sam was in Omaha, Nebraska, my hometown, in August of 2021. We crossed paths at the end of that week, on a familiar road, heading in opposite directions like often happens on Tour. It was the final regular season tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour and Alker had just missed the cut, signifying the end of his season – of his career – out there. I asked Sam what his plans were, knowing full well that he had been looking forward to Alker turning 50 and being eligible for the PGA Tour Champions, after competing with Sam by his side, against younger competition for the previous three years. He told me that Steven was entered in the following week’s qualifier in Seattle. They were going to do some qualifiers that fall and get ready for Tour School at the end of the year. After practicing over the weekend, Alker told Sam not to bother flying out and that he’d let him know if he got in. Unbeknownst to Steven, and as Sam relayed to me on the podcast, he booked a ticket to Seattle for the following week ahead of time. On Tuesday, when Alker called to tell Sam that he got in, Sam said, “I’ve already got a ticket. I’ll see you tonight.” And off they went, finishing seventh together in his first event. It was the only time Alker ever had to qualify on the Champions tour.
Those of us who were lucky enough to know Sam were better for it. He was “salt of the earth”, as people like to say. I want to give a shoutout to my friend and fellow caddie, Kelly Miller, who does an admirable job of staying in touch with all his friends from the Tour from his home in San Diego. He and Sam stayed in close contact over the years, even before Alker started his spectacular run, so it was fun for us to all text back and forth as we witnessed their history and I became closer to Sam because of him. My heart goes out to his family and all of his friends, particular my caddie brethren. While his funeral is set for next Monday, February 13th, his life will be recognized and celebrated on Tours everywhere in the coming weeks and months.
At the end of our podcast, I asked Sam what was the best city to visit in Texas. He said New Braunfels, which I had never heard of before, but he described as a hidden gem of relaxed, hill-country nightlife. So next month, the PGA Tour will be in San Antonio, where Sam’s sister recently built a house in nearby… New Braunfels. And in late April, the PGA Tour Champions will roll into Houston where Alker will be the defending champion and I’m sure if will be a moment of pause for reflection, camaraderie, and toasts in his honor.
But rest assured, Sam will have the barbeque waiting for all of us one day.
