BETHLEHEM, Penn. – Should you know the words – and frankly, why wouldn’t you? – feel free to sing or hum along because this story plays to the tune of “I’ve Been Everywhere.”

Only instead of “Humpin’ my bluey,” the original opening words as written by Aussie Geoff Mack, or “Totin’ my pack,” as sung by Johnny Cash in his version, an unheralded golfer from Hamilton, New Zealand – which is about as far away in the golf universe as one can get – likely would sing “I’ve been luggin’ my clubs.”

OK, so Alker doesn’t actually sing the song, not like Mack or Lucky Starr or Hank Snow or The Man in Black, but you get the point. Which is, while those artists sang of obscure and out-of-the-way places their lives had taken them, the unassuming Kiwi with the inspiring story needn’t take a back seat to anyone when it comes to seeing this lovely planet.

“I like experiencing other countries,” said Alker, who remains under the radar when compared to stalwarts such as Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer who headline this week’s U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley CC.

“I started traveling when I was like 15 with New Zealand Golf all over the world. That’s what I wanted to do.”

Cue to Cash’s version … “I’ve been to Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Ombabika, Schefferville, Jacksonville, Waterville, Costa Rica, Pittsfield, Springfield, Bakersfield, Shreveport, Hackensack, Cadillac, Fond du Lac, Davenport, Idaho, Jellico, Argentina, Diamantina, Pasadena, Catalina, see what I mean …”

Then imagine Alker singing how he’d been to Christchurch (1990 Eisenhower Trophy), Sydney (Queensland Open), Tahiti (he won!), Versailles (1994 Eisenhower Trophy against Tiger Woods), St. Andrews (1997 Dunhill Cup), Fiji (another win!), Westlake (as in Ohio and a Korn Ferry Tour win), Sefton (in Australia, site of Cathay Pacific Australian PGA Par 3 Championship where Alker was third behind David McKenzie and Peter Lonard), Provo (Utah, his debut on the Korn Ferry Tour in 1996), Broussard (memorable first Korn Ferry Tour win in Louisiana in 2002), Irving (in Texas, 2003, and seventh straight missed cut at the AT&T Byron Nelson in a forgettable PGA TOUR rookie season).

Whew, has he traveled the world. Maybe not with flamboyant success, but always with a passion and a determination.

“I think that half the battle is enjoying the lifestyle and enjoying the grind,” Alker said. “I enjoy that grind and I think when that goes, that’s kind of when I’ll probably hang it up.”

Alker, of course, is far from ready to hang ‘em up, especially given the ride he is on, the backdrop to which is borderline fairytale. With no PGA TOUR Champions status when he turned 50 last July, Alker successfully Monday qualified for the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Washington.

He was T7 that week, the first of six straight top-10 finishes. Alker won in his ninth start of the year, the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida. All he has done in a follow-up to that dreamlike rookie season is win three more times in 2022, including the recent KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

Proud to be called a journeyman – it means “you’ve kind of been everywhere and done everything and I kind of feel like I’ve done that,” he said – Alker in 20 PGA TOUR Champions tournaments since last July has finished first, second or third 10 times and piled up $3.082 million.

The one aspect to the Alker story that has been more consistent than his play: the times a competitor has conceded he really didn’t know Steven Alker.

After getting beaten by Alker at the TimberTech, Furyk said he didn’t know much about the journeyman. A fellow journeyman, Brett Quigley, raised his hand and said he, too, was not familiar with him.

But Quigley, who has traveled his own circuitous route to the PGA TOUR Champions, lavished praise on his colleague.

“Good golly, it’s incredible where he’s gone, from Monday qualifier to this,” said Quigley. “I love that (he didn’t walk away from the game) and at any age, any level, he’s hungry for the competition. It’s why we all play.

“To do this well, at this high level after all he’s been through, it’s inspiring.”

Understandable, this unfamiliarity with Alker. But start with this: Almost everywhere he’s played, he’s won. Twice on the PGA Tour of Australasia, four times on the Korn Ferry Tour, twice on PGA TOUR Canada, once on the Australasia Developmental Tour, and now four times on the PGA TOUR Champions. The beautiful thing about this global golf business is that while Alker might be unknown in America, he has crossed paths with a healthy list of admirers in other continents.

Such as the left-hander who held off Alker to win the Queensland Open at Windaroo CC in Sydney in 2009 – Greg Chalmers. Put him down as a firm yes among the contingent of Alker believers.

“He’s always been someone who’s super prepared for how he goes about his craft,” said Chalmers, an Aussie who played plenty against Alker Down Under. “He’s the quintessential grinder and he’s reaping the benefits of that hard work.”

Though it’s not the glittering Tiger Woods-like progression for Alker, he ran in pretty good amateur circles as a quiet kid from Hamilton. In the 1990 Eisenhower Trophy, he was on the New Zealand team that finished tied for second with a U.S. team that featured Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Allen Doyle and David Eger.

Four years later, Alker’s teammate on the Kiwi Eisenhower squad was Michael Campbell, a future U.S. Open champion; only the American foursome of Woods, Duval, Doyle and Todd Demsey was unbeatable.

It was Alker, however, who was unbeatable at the 1995 Fiji Open and the 1996 Tahiti Open. And it was Alker who beat South Korea’s Mo Joong-Kyung, Spaniard Miguel Angel Martin, and Zimbabwe standout Tony Johnstone to help the Kiwi advance to the semifinals of the 1997 Dunhill Cup in Scotland. Oh, and the Nomura Cup in the Philippines and Malaysia, and the Sloan Morpeth Trophy Down Under? Yep, Alker was there, too.

I’ve been everywhere, man
I’ve been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I’ve had my share, man
I’ve been everywhere

The secret, said Chalmers, is Alker’s commitment to remaining true to himself and to a vision all aspiring golfers had when turning pro. Get in it for the love of the game, not the riches.

“No question, Steven, like so many of us had a simple benchmark when we turned pro – can we make enough of a living playing the game to pay our bills?” said Chalmers. “Playing sport is absolutely a blessing, but to do it for a living is an absolute joy.

“That Steven is still doing this and finding all this success years later, good on him for hanging in. He’s a lovely man, a better person than golfer.”