Steven Alker is justifying his pre-tournament-favourite status at the NI Legends at Galgorm and holds a share of the 36-hole lead after back-to-back 67s moved him to 10-under-par. And the New Zealander, without his regular caddie, has enlisted local help and paid tribute to the contribution of Mikey Boal.
Boal, who is engaged to Olivia Mehaffey and serves as her caddie on the LET, is taking full advantage of a week off and his familiarity with Galgorm Castle and comfort with the roll is going down well.
“Yeah, Mikey is doing a great job,” Alker said after signing his card in round two. “He caddies for his fiance on the Ladies European Tour. They’ve got a few events left in the year, but he had a free week and here he is. So yeah, he’s doing a good job. I mean, just everything you need out of a caddie; saying the right things, spot-on with the yardages, and he’s been pretty good with his reads too.
“He’s about 40 minutes from here, but he’s played here several times, knows the golf course, and you know, that always helps as a caddie if you know the golf course too.”
Though the final score was the same in both rounds for Alker, he felt the rounds were quite different.
“Yeah, obviously we didn’t have the wind today, that was the big thing,” he said. “You know, choosing clubs was easier and I had a lot more chances. I seemed to be in the fairway a lot more often. So, yeah, that was nice. I hit the ball better, but it’s the same score.
“So, that was different, you know – the same score, but you do it differently. But I’m very pleased to be in that position and give myself a chance to win.”
Alker will play alongside Scotland’s David Drysdale in the final round, with a two-stroke gap to their nearest challengers, but the 13-time PGA Tour Champions winner, who admits that he’s not a leaderboard watcher, intends to take it one shot at a time as opposed to aiming for a specific number that he believes will get the job done.
“It all depends on the conditions really,” he said. “I’ve heard we’re going to have some windy conditions tomorrow. So, it’s really just a matter of gettin out there, seeing how the game feels, and then you can kind of feel your way into the round. You’ll get a fair idea that, OK, you know, you’re feeling good, you can be more aggressive or you know, if things are not so good, you can be more conservative.
“So score wise, no, I don’t tend to put a score on my mind, just get out there and play and and try and hit the same shots I hit on on Friday as I hit on Sunday.”
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