PHOENIX — Two down, two to go, a second lucky break and a new No. 1.
Stewart Cink shot a 5-under 66 to maintain his three-shot lead on the 35-man field in the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship. For the second day in a row, he avoided disaster on the par-5 18th hole.
On Thursday, a shot out of a bunker hit the flagstick dead on and stopped two feet away, setting up a closing birdie. On Friday, his second shot was well short of the green, hitting the bank that slopes down towards a lake. But his ball managed to stay hung up in the rough and not get wet. He then chipped on and two-putted for par.
“It was just a little bit of a lazy swing there on 18. This is going to happen, but obviously it was a little further right than I meant for it to be, but we had plenty of distance to make sure we had kind of a wide space to give ourselves a little forgiveness there,” Cink said. “That bank actually does have some grass over there on 18. When you get back in towards the middle of the green, there’s no grass. So that part of the hole will hold a golf ball. Still, very glad it stayed up.”
Cink avoided bogey on Friday and has just one over 36 holes. He’s seeking his second PGA Tour Champions victory in 2024.
67-year-old Langer shoots 64
Bernhard Langer had the round of the day, a 7-under 64. It’s his best round in this event and it’s three shots better than his age. It’s also the 21st time the ageless wonder has shot his age or better.
“Every once in a while I look back at my career and have to almost pinch myself and say, man, that’s pretty amazing what you’ve done the last whatever, so many years,” he said. “Like a day today, to shoot 64, 3 under my age, not a whole lot of people can do that.”
On the par-4 17th, Langer drained a long putt of about 25 feet for his eighth birdie of the day. He said a slight putter alignment adjustment is paying dividends.
“I moved the ball a little bit further away from me. Started to look better, ball was rolling online and so far, so good. It’s worked two days in a row,” he said.
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Langer had plans to make the 2024 Masters his final trip down Magnolia Lane, but a ruptured Achilles in February scuttled that. He later said 2025 would be his last time competing at Augusta National and he confirmed that again Friday.
“It will be, no doubt about it. That course is just so long,” he said. “The last five or 10 years when I played there, it’s just playing very long. It’s not much fun hitting 3-woods into par 4s and 2-hybrids and all that kind of stuff. The holes are made for 7-, 8-, 9-irons and I’m coming in with some metal and other things.”
New No. 1 in Schwab points
As for the tournament within the tournament, the season-long points race, there’s a new leader in the projected standings. Steven Alker, who came into the week in the No. 2 spot, has overtaken Ernie Els, who has been No. 1 for the last 12 tournaments.
Alker, who won the Cup two years ago and then this tournament last season, shot a 3-under 68 Friday at Phoenix Country Club and is tied for fourth. Meanwhile Els shot a 70 and is 3 under overall this week, tied for ninth. Els is seeking his first Schwab Cup points title.
Back to Cink. While he can’t win the season title, there are scenarios where he could finish as high as second.
How it works
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship is a four-round, 72-hole, no-cut tournament.
Unlike the PGA Tour’s post-season – where the Tour Championship winner is declared the FedEx Cup champion – it’s possible to have someone win this event while someone else captures the Schwab season title.
The winner of the tournament wins the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The winner of the season-long race is the Charles Schwab Cup champion.