Steven Alker will not deny it. His wife, Tanya, has spent decades grinding and supporting him in his golf career. She has watched him grind through the Korn Ferry Tour, win 11 times on the PGA Tour Champions, and much more. Now, in his own words, he admits it’s his time to return that support in her time of grief.
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Tanya recently lost her mother, and the family has returned to the United Kingdom as they deal with the personal loss. Though he played at the Boeing Classic, where he eventually finished T4, Alker couldn’t hide the grief his family has been going through for years now.
In a statement to the PGA Tour Champions, Alker revealed, “Oh yeah, I mean, yeah, stuff off the golf course that, you know, whenever you’re dealing with death in the family, you know, it is tough. You know, my wife lost her parents in the last couple of years, and we just lost her mother, you know, a couple of weeks ago.”
Alker admitted the family is going “through a lot,” plus a lot of travelling, too. “So a lot of travel—that’s been one thing that’s been tough. And, you know, just trying to support my wife. You know, that’s—she’s been supporting me for 20 years, and, hey, it’s now time to support her.”
The Alker family has spent the past few weeks shuttling between the United States and the United Kingdom to be with her side of the family. Despite such a difficult time, Tanya has not missed supporting Steven through the years.
The support has always been there
Alker’s appreciation for his wife is certainly not without precedent. The two met at the dawn of the century, some nine months before Alker played the 2000 RBC Canadian Open. Eventually, Tanya quit her job as a cruise ship director and started traveling with him as his caddie, according to an article by the RBC Canadian Open. They have two kids now and live in Arizona.
Tanya has been the constant through every version of Alker’s career, including the seasons that produced almost nothing. It’s hard to imagine them without each other now.
In 2011, he made just 3 out of 13 cuts and earned $16,904 on the Korn Ferry Tour. A year later, he missed the cut in six of his last eight tournaments of the season. It’s always been like this. Back in 2024, she was there for him during the New Zealand Open, where he stated that he doesn’t lack confidence in his wife, as “she knows golf.”
Tanya’s patience and support were rewarded in 2022, when Steven finally broke through on the Champions Tour, winning the Charles Schwab Cup. The moment was an emotional one as Tanya fought back tears, remembering how far they had come.
“It means we have finally security, something we’ve never had,” she said. Alker has returned to the sentiment, crediting her patience through years when golf offered no guarantees. The couple also celebrated his 2022 Dominion Energy Charity Classic win together, the victory that Alker dedicated to Tanya.
The Alkers are a loving family altogether, having come together multiple times to support each other. The couple, for instance, was there when their daughter Skye played the Arizona State High School Cross-Country Championships.
But Alker has grieved through competition before.
In 2023, he flew in from Texas to the Chubb Classic days after attending funeral services for his longtime caddie, Sam Workman, who died of liver cancer at 55. He pushed his start time back that week to make the service, then returned to the course saying he was playing for Workman and his family.
Despite the grief, Alker showed his mettle last week with his family.
The Alkers family on the bag
The Boeing Classic this week has doubled as a family reunion for the Alkers amid their tough time. At the tournament, his daughter Skye caddied for her father for the first time, with son Ben also along for the trip. Speaking to the PGA Tour, Alker shared how the experience has been so far.
“We kept it light out there, which is great. She’s never done it before, and she said all the right things and stood in the right places, which is great. So I’ll give her an 8 out of 10. I can’t give her a 9 or 10. There’s, you know, I’ve got room for improvement there, right? But no, she did great. As I said, we just kept it light. It was fun.”
Rightfully so, with Skye on the bag, Alker caught fire through both rounds. His Saturday was even steadier. Sunday was less forgiving, but he did register a T4 finish, a sweet enough finish for the grieving family.
For Tanya, the scorecard likely matters less than having Skye and Ben close by all week. Still, it is hard not to imagine Steven Alker being there for her, too, despite his own career’s demands.