A look at Steven Alker’s first five PGA TOUR Champions titles

In 2010, Steven Alker played in 21 Korn Ferry Tour events.

He missed 21 cuts.

In 2022, Alker, 51, has a few more achievements to boast. Across 21 PGA TOUR Champions starts this season, Alker has recorded 21 made cuts, four wins, 16 top-10 finishes, 19 top-25s and is No. 1 on the Charles Schwab Cup standings heading into this week’s TimberTech Championship, the second of three Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs events.

He could clinch the Charles Schwab Cup title this week.

In August 2021 – less than a month after turning 50 – Alker took his first stab at PGA TOUR Champions at the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Washington. The Hamilton, New Zealand native Monday qualified into the event and finished the week T7.

Monday qualifiers quickly became a thing of the past for Alker, who finished solo third at the Ally Challenge the following week and finished no worse than T16 for the remainder of the 2021 season.

Here’s a capsule look at Alker’s first five PGA TOUR Champions titles, as he chases history this week in South Florida.

TIMBERTECH CHAMPIONSHIP

Only 11 weeks after his first PGA TOUR Champions start, Alker broke his seven-year winning drought at the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida. He closed Sunday’s round with a 4-under 68 to win by two shots and earned $305,000, bringing his PGA TOUR Champions total earnings to $896,000 – more than he earned in his three full seasons on the PGA TOUR combined.

Alker finished second in the Charles Schwab Championship the following week to round out the 2021 season.

RAPISCAN SYSTEMS CLASSIC

Alker’s first of his four 2022 wins came in April where he shot a final round, 7-under 65 to win the Rapiscan Systems Classic by six shots, including a course-record 62 in the second round at Grand Bear GC.

The win in Mississippi would be the first of many mic drops – both literally and figuratively – for Alker this season.

INSPERITY INVITATIONAL

Two weeks later, Alker took home another win at the Insperity Invitational in The Woodlands, Texas. Following a two-hour rain delay during the final round, Alker played a six-hole stretch in 6 under to take the lead over Steve Stricker, en route to a one-stroke victory.

“I'm just so proud of the scoring,” Alker said. “I'm scoring so well, I'm shooting low rounds and I'm keeping rounds going. If I get into trouble, I'm 1 or 2 under, so that's really pleasing. The win kind of comes with all that.”

KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

And with Alker’s low scoring came Alker’s first PGA TOUR Champions major. Rounds of 64-72-69-63 propelled Alker to a three-stroke victory over Stephen Ames and Bernhard Langer at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

DOMINION ENERGY CHARITY CLASSIC

Alker entered the first event of the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs leading the rankings, and he solidified his position at the top by securing his fourth victory this season at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

“It was kind of a dogfight down there at the end,” Alker said. “I was trying not to look at the leaderboard, because there were so many guys just trying to win this golf tournament.”

LOOKING FORWARD

With only two events remaining in the season, they are Alker’s to lose. Alker leads the Charles Schwab Cup standings by $547,160 heading into the TimberTech Championship where Alker looks to defend his title. Defending his title could mean an early Charles Schwab Cup victory for the man who has dominated the season.

Alker tees it up Friday at the TimberTech Championship at Royal Palm Yacht and CC, as he sees what more change he can make in the year that changed his life.