Stewart Cink is inching toward his second career PGA Tour Champions major title, as the veteran on Saturday shot a 1-under-par 71 to clear the field by three strokes headed into Sunday’s championship round at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Ala.
Cink took home his first major championship just two weeks ago when he won the Senior PGA Championship in Bradenton, Fla.
Despite not matching the heights achieved through his first two rounds, when Cink totaled 16 birdies over two days, his round nevertheless allowed him to expand his lead after leading by two at the conclusion of Friday’s round, and it came in difficult windy conditions.
“Overall today it was just a lot harder day to score out there,” Cink said. “I wasn’t quite as sharp either as I was the first couple days, but sometimes the golf course, you know, it just turns on you a little bit. The wind direction on a lot of the holes was awkward and it was difficult to pick out a lot of the gusts in the direction of it.”
Cink’s lead growing came in part because closest competitor Charlie Wi suffered a miserable round on Saturday, clunking home four bogeys and two double-bogeys on the way to a 5-over 77.
Cink moved to 15-under for the tournament by kickstarting his day with three birdies over his first five holes. His birdie on the fifth was sandwiched by two bogeys, and he closed his front nine 1 under. On the back nine, he balanced a double bogey with two birdies (the latter coming on Hole 18) to finish his day a stroke under par.
“The birdie at the last was nice,” Cink said. “That was some pretty good shots. But the double on the 15th hole was, that’s what happens when you hit a whole bunch of bad shots in one hole, you get a bad score, and I did.”
Cink, who grew up 120 miles northwest of Birmingham in Florence, Ala., has had a large, supportive gallery thanks to that proximity.
But the 72-hole event held at Greystone Golf and Country Club was more unkind to most of the other major challengers on Saturday. South Africa’s Retief Goosen (74), Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (75) and Czechia’s Alex Cejka (74) had all been in a tie for third, and none could reach par, falling further behind Cink’s pace.
Just three golfers are within five shots of Cink after a day of high scores. Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie is closest at 12 under after his 5-under 67. He had seven birdies to go along with two bogeys to match his low round for the tournament.
“This is the beauty of the game of golf, isn’t it, that age is just a number in the game of golf,” Montgomerie said. “If it was any other sport, you would be well gone by now.”
Doug Barron (69) and New Zealand’s Steven Alker (71) are tied for third at 10 under.
Four golfers are tied for fifth at 9 under alongside Goosen and Cejka: Matt Gogel (68), South Korea’s Y.E. Yang (70), Ken Tanigawa (70) and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen (71). Jaidee is T11 while Wi is T15.
