Stewart Cink shot a blistering 10-under par round of 62 and took a two-shot lead after the first round of PGA Tour Champions stop at The Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Mich.
Cink, who is second behind Miguel Angel Jiminez on the Charles Schwab Cup leaderboard, is two strokes ahead of Australia’s Steven Alker and three clear of South Africa’s Ernie Els.
Australia’s Mark Hensby carded a 6-under 66, while four others recorded 5 under scores. Dicky Pride, Bob Estes, Brian Gay and Australian Cameron Percy were all five strokes behind the leader.
Cink shot 31 on both nines, collecting five birdies on both the outward and inward halves. He birdied five consecutive holes (Nos. 6-10) in the middle of the round and three straight holes (Nos. 15-17) coming home.
Cink committed full-time to the tour just before winning the 2024 edition of the Ally Challenge.
“It was all of my game today was really on point pretty well,” said Cink. “I drove it nicely. I’m not going to show a lot of fairways hit because we hit a lot of balls that were like a foot in the rough, but on this course, it’s a pretty narrow course and it’s going to happen. I kept my ball in play, hit a lot of good iron shots.
“And the one standout, probably outlier, was the putting was kind of like an almost embarrassingly good day on the greens. I felt really good out there, really stable. The ball was just rolling nicely and a lot of them went in. It was just one of those days.”
Alker, who is third on the Schwab Cup leaderboard, matched Cink by playing bogey-free golf. He also turned in 31, but made par the final four holes for a 33 on the inward half.
The nine-time winner on the tour was dialed in on all aspects of his game.
“Yeah, pretty much everything,” said Alker, when asked what was working so well for him. “Bogey free’s always good obviously. We didn’t have much wind today, greens were receptive so we could kind of get after it. So tried to get out of the gates quickly and I did that. Just drive in the fairway and hit some really good iron shots. My iron shots, I tidied that up and then made some putts obviously.”
Cink has been on quite a roll, finishing third, second and second in his last three outings. He credits his preparation for his success.
“I think you kind of create your own flow by preparation and I’ve been preparing for today for 25 years,” he said. “So it’s just the way golf is. You can’t expect good things to happen on the greens, you just expect to do your preparation in trying to do the best process that you can and let the results take care of themselves and stay out of it, because in the end really it’s just a contest to see who can get in their own way the least.”
–Field Level Media
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