CALGARY — Steve Blake has a powerful message — don’t give up on your dreams no matter what life throws your way. The Calgary golf professional is gearing up for playing in Canada's lone PGA Tour Champions event of the season while battling inoperable Stage 4 lung cancer. "You may be handed a death sentence, but it doesn't mean life's over," said Blake, whose received the shocking diagnosis in September.
"You've still got a lot to give, so get out there and give something." Blake was given a sponsor exemption on Monday, his 56th birthday, to play in his hometown at the 2024 Rogers Charity Classic at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club from Aug. 16 to 18.
"The more I have something like this tournament coming up to look forward to, the more alive I feel," Blake said. "I don’t feel like I’m sick. I feel like I’m just this normal guy who’s going to practise for this tournament coming up and hopefully I’ll be around for the next one and so on and so on.
"As devastating as something can sound, I think if you believe that you can conquer something, you will, especially if you have good support staff and family (and) friends.” Blake, who also competed at the PGA Tour Champions event in 2018 when the tournament was known as the Shaw Charity Classic, decided to apply for another exemption while in the midst of undergoing eight months of chemotherapy treatments. He is looking forward to playing the sport he loves, possibly alongside fellow Canadians Mike Weir and Step.
