Kevin McAlpine: Scottish caddie dies suddenly aged 39

Former Scottish Amateur champion Kevin McAlpine has died. He was 39.

A successful caddie, based out of Arizona in the United States, McAlpine had looped for Lexi Thompson, Martin Laird and Amy Yang.

He had also been married to major champion Anna Nordqvist, whom he met when McAlpine whilst working for Thompson in 2017. The couple tied the knot during the Covid pandemic 2021 and celebrated with family in Scotland in August 2022.

However, in a recent social media post, Nordqvist revealed that the couple were divorcing. “To avoid speculations and more questions – I am in the middle of a divorce,” she wrote. “I please ask for continued respect and privacy while I’m managing this difficult time.”

It is understood that Nordqvist has withdrawn from this week’s BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea to fly back to the US.

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McAlpine, the son of former Dundee United goalkeeper Hamish McAlpine, was a Scottish international teammate of Lloyd Saltman and Richie Ramsay before moving to America to attend Colorado State University where he majored in Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies.

A torn anterior cruciate ligament ahead of his final season as an amateur derailed his progress and, when he turned professional in 2010, he struggled to establish himself.

He turned to caddying to help make ends meet before finally turning his back on playing the game at the end of 2016 to take a job as a sales rep for Scottish-based junior golf equipment company Golphin.

It was five months into that role that, on the recommendation of fellow Scots pro Jimmy Gunn, he landed a job caddying for Thomspon in the 2017 RICOH Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns.

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That temporary arrangement was quickly made permanent and McAlpine spent 18 months on the American’s bag before they called time on their partnership ahead of the 2018 LPGA season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

McAlpine picked up Martin Laird’s bag on the PGA Tour at the beginning of 2021 and was alongside his fellow Scot when he finished tied for 38th at the Masters that year.

The Blairgowrie-born McAlpine had multiple wins under his belt as a looper on the LPGA and was described as being diligent and good with stats.

Speaking to The Courier, McAlpine’s father Hamish said: “We can confirm that Kevin has passed away in America. We are completely in the dark about what has happened. It is true that he has been unwell but we believed he was on the mend. 

“There is to be an autopsy and at the moment there is very little we can say. We really don’t want to talk about this at this stage. As a family we are completely devastated. You can imagine how we are feeling.”