Stewart Cink remains on top at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, but Friday’s second round at Phoenix (Ariz.) Country Club brought with it a few notable shifts on the leaderboard.
Cink followed his opening 64 with a 5-under-par 66 to move to 12-under 130 at the halfway mark of the season finale. He is three shots ahead of second-place Bernhard Langer, as the 67-year-old German legend posted a 64 — his 21st time shooting his age or better on the PGA Tour Champions.
Another German, Alex Cejka (66), is alone in third at 7 under, and Steven Alker of New Zealand made a key move into a tie for fourth at 4 under by shooting a 68.
Alker entered the week second in the Schwab Cup race, and if the current tournament standings were to hold, he would have enough to pass leader Ernie Els to win the season-long Schwab Cup title. The South African settled for a 70 on Friday and is 3 under, one behind Alker.
They’re all looking up at Cink, whose bogey-free card featured four of his five birdies coming on the front nine.
“It was actually probably a cleaner round than (Thursday) as far as just my processes and the quality of the shots was probably a little bit better overall,” Cink said. “… I would love to play golf like that every day, that would be a good target for myself and probably for a lot of people to play golf like that every day. It’s not going to be like that.
“I know over the next couple days I’m going to face some adversities here and there, and I already have this week. I’m under no false illusions that I’m not going to face any problems or adversities.”
Cink began the week No. 12 in the points standings and mathematically cannot win the Schwab Cup, though he’s halfway to the tournament title.
Langer, too, did not have a strong enough year to be in contention for the season-long title this weekend, having entered the week in 22nd place. But his brilliant round, featuring nine birdies and two bogeys, was the latest feather in his cap. Langer went birdie-birdie at Nos. 17 and 18 to ensure he beat his own age by three.
“Especially on a course like this, it’s not that easy,” Langer said. “Conditions were great, but been putting really well the last two days and hitting the ball fairly solid as well. Except for hitting one out of bounds (Thursday), everything else was pretty good. It’s fun to make some putts, that’s what the game is all about. If you want to score low, you’ve got to make some putts.”
Alker is tied with Vijay Singh of Fiji (65 Friday), Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain (68), Cameron Percy of Australia (68) and Jerry Kelly (70) at 4 under.
Alker won the Schwab Cup in 2022, his first season on the 50-and-older tour. He had a quietly solid round Friday, making 11 straight pars before his first birdie and another four pars before finishing birdie-birdie.
