Stewart Cink shot a steady, stress-free 70 to cap off a dominant, record-breaking week at an age — 47 — when many players are looking ahead to the PGA Tour Champions.
Instead, it was Cink finishing 4 better than Emiliano Grillo and Harold Varner III. Grillo shot a 68 while Varner, who had the highest finish of his career, fired a 66.
He won for the second time this season — only he and Bryson DeChambeau have done that. He broke an 11-year winless drought in the season’s first tournament, the Safeway Open back in September.
That one seemed to come out of nowhere. But Cink backed it up with four more top-20 finishes, including a tie for 12th last week at the Masters.
Cink put on show by shooting 16-under 126 in the first two rounds — shattering the lowest 36-hole score at Harbour Town of 13-under 129 shared by Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson. Cink added a 69 on Saturday to reach 18 under, 2 better than Justin Leonard‘s 54-hole score in 2002.
Cink carried a 5-shot lead into the final round and dared all chasers to come get him. Nobody made a run at Cink, who led by at least 3 shots throughout.