Solo fourth for Clarke as Cink secures first Champion’s Tour Victory

Stewart Cink kept up his fine form at the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Michigan to clinch his first victory on the Champion’s Tour. He managed to stitch three strong rounds together to seal the victory on -17, four clear of second placed K.J. Choi.

Darren Clarke followed up a third place in Canada last week with a fourth spot at Warwick Hills, two behind third placed Mike Weir. His consistent showings have pushed Clarke up to 16^th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings with five events left before the playoffs. Pádraig Harrington couldn’t make progress with an level-par final day seeing him slip down the order.

Clarke has found a rich seam of consistency over recent weeks, and this was on show as he made his way around on the final day in Michigan. Three birdies came on his front nine as he went around bogey free before his first dropped shot on the par-four 12^th. A great response followed with back-to-back birdies on the following two holes, before handing one more back on the 15^th. He regrouped once more however to birdie two of his final three including on his final hole of the week to finish out strong with a five-under, 67.

Harrington topped off a forgettable week with a level-par 72 for his final round with four strokes traded back and forth with Warwick Hills over a battling Sunday. There was no damage done to his season though as he still sits comfortably within the top 10 on the Schwab Cup standings. Tour stalwart Bernhard Langer turns 67 in two days and rolled back the years on the final day to card an unbeaten 65, a score only matched by David Duval on Sunday. This is the 16^th time the German has shot his age or better on the Champion’s Tour.

“Yeah. Well, I noticed on, I don’t know what hole it was, but it was early in the round, probably four or five, that K.J. had started hot and he had already tied me, so my lead was gone,” reflected a victorious Cink after his round. “All that stuff with having the lead was over. It actually helped quite a bit to kind of put me into a little bit more of a fight and attack mode instead of protect mode. I played the first four holes fine. I mean, I had birdie putts. I didn’t make anything, but I just was a little bit defensive and tentative, I could feel it.”

“I was just really proud of myself the way I stayed in the moment and just did the best I could on every shot,” added a clearly elated winner. “Today the best I could do was pretty darn good, it was some of the best golf I’ve played in quite a while.”

Next up for the Champion’s Tour is a trip to St. Louis, Missouri as the Norwood Hills Country Club plays host to the Ascencion Charity Classic. Steve Flesch is defending champion, but Harrington knows how to win in St. Louis having lifted the title in ’22. September sixth to eighth will see the fifth to last tournament of the regular season underway as the race for the Charles Schwab Cup heats up.