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Steven Alker hits Champions Tour milestone with 100th career start
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- Steven Alker hits Champions Tour milestone with 100th career start
Time flies when you've come out of nowhere to parlay a Monday qualifier into a top-10 which eventually led to 10 PGA Tour Champions wins and two Charles Schwab Cup titles.
That's the quick summary of Steven Alker's explosion on the scene on the Champions circuit. This later-in-life resurgence has also led to nearly $13 million in prize money. Alker made only $840,000 over 13 seasons on the PGA Tour.
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This week, with the Champions tour in Tucson, Alker is not only the defending champion but he'll be competing in his 100th event on the circuit. Time sure flies.
Steven Alker celebrates after winning the 2025 Cologuard Classic at La Paloma Country Club in Tucson, Arizona.
"I was unaware of it until you mentioned during the week on Tuesday," he said during his pre-tournament news conference at La Paloma Country Club. "I guess it's a big deal. It's nice to be back here in Tucson and defending. Yeah, a special week. A hundred's always good. You can look forward and think, 'can I do another hundred?' That's probably four or five years away."
He later added: "You look back and jeez, it only kind of feels like yesterday. But yeah, to do what I've done since Seattle four and a half years ago, it's been amazing. Did I think I would be standing here? Probably not."
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More: What to know about Cologuard Classic on PGA Tour Champions
This will also be just his second start in 2026. He tied for 28th in the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in January. What's he been up to since?
"I've been down in New Zealand actually for a couple of weeks. It was my mother's 80th birthday. Good to see some family down there. Played the New Zealand Open as well. It's been a fun two weeks," said the transplanted New Zealander who has called Scottsdale, Arizona, home for several years. "I've only been back home a week and just getting climatized again. I'm fresh and ready to go."
The record heat on the West Coast is hitting Tucson as well, with triple-digit highs expected Friday and Saturday. That, however, is nothing new to the Arizona resident.
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"The greens, they're going to have to keep them reasonably soft and under control, but the fairways can get a little bouncy around here. If we get some wind as well, it can dry up pretty quickly," he said. "That could mean a lot of different clubs off the tee and playing a little more conservative and not aggressive. We'll see, 105 is kind of nothing. I'm an Arizona resident, so I'm going to be OK with 105."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Steven Alker to make 100th start on PGA Tour Champions at Cologuard
