Stewart Cink capped off his first full-time season on the PGA Tour Champions by lifting the Charles Schwab Cup on Sunday at Phoenix Country Club.
Cink rallied past New Zealand’s Steven Alker with a bogey-free 4-under 67 to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the tour’s season finale. The victory vaulted him from third to first in the season-long points race, past Alker, who was angling for his third Cup in four years.
Cink’s final round pushed him to 20-under 264 for a two-shot win over Alker, who struggled to a 70.
“It was a good week start to finish,” said Cink, 52. “If I had to point to one stretch of golf that really I was the most proud of this week … I had a stretch of just nothing really good going on on Friday, but I finished with like three birdies in the last six or something like that. I just got myself together and that was a big turning point for me because like everybody, we’ve all lost tournaments, but I’ve lost a few and it was in that way. So I was really proud of turning it around.”
Both Cink and Alker had two birdies through seven holes, but Alker missed the green at the par-3 eighth and began to come apart. He bogeyed there and missed par putts at Nos. 10 and 12 to cede Cink the lead.
Cink, in fact, birdied the 12th hole to make it a two-shot advantage.
“Yeah, up-and-down day. I mean, I didn’t feel like I did a whole lot wrong, to be honest,” Alker said. “Yeah, apart from the greens. I got a jumper flyer on No. 10, took me out the back and missed a short putt there. Had a three-putt at 12. Just felt like the putter — I three-putted one from the fringe today — just felt like it let me down on that front nine.”
Alker rebounded with a short birdie putt at the par-3 13th, and both players stuck their tee shots at the par-3 15th close for matching birdies. That was Cink’s final birdie, but Alker had one more push in him when he rolled in his third birdie in a four-hole stretch at No. 16.
After matching pars at No. 17, Alker went for the green at the par-5 18th and lost his shot in the greenside lake, leading to a closing bogey.
“It’s been a good year of progress for me with the driver, for sure,” Cink said. “Start to finish, I’m a different player than I was at the start of the year and this week was just like icing on the cake and validation for the work that (coach) John Scott and I are putting in, and Billy, my trainer at home. We’re just doing the right things and the ball’s telling us the truth.”
Alker had nothing but praise for Cink, who split time on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions last year.
“He’s a world-class player. He could still play on the PGA Tour, he’s got enough length and he still putts it nice and chips it nice,” Alker said. “And a world-class guy, too. … And a worthy champion. He’s had a great year, he’s been consistent. Hey, he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with out here.”
In a distant tie for third at 15 under were Freddie Jacobson of Sweden (66), Jerry Kelly (67) and Tommy Gainey (68).
