He jars an albatross from 205 yards
When Stewart Cink flexed after he jarred his 6-iron approach from 205 yards for an albatross late Saturday to take a two-stroke lead at the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, California, the tournament was pretty much over.
On Sunday, he went ahead and finished off his second PGA Tour Champions win this season, cementing his place as the tour’s dominant player. Cink closed with a 5-under 66 to win by four shots over tour rookie Zach Johnson and Ernie Els. He finished the tournament with a 54-hole total of 194, just one shot off the tournament record.
With the win, Cink banked another $330,000 and added to his Charles Schwab Cup points lead. It’s his sixth Champions Tour win and third in his last five starts.
Cink began the final round two shots clear of Freddie Jacobson, who briefly pulled even on the front nine before falling back. After that, it was clear sailing for the 52-year-old Cink, who grew up in Florence and played high school golf at Bradshaw.
Cink said his torrid start to the 2026 season is just a carryover from the way he finished the 2025 season.
“I had a little bit more of a purpose the last four or five tournaments (last year) and I saw some pretty good results,” he said of a closing stretch that saw him come from behind to win his first Charles Schwab Cup title. “I decided to play that out and let it run. I was actually a little sloppy at the Cologuard Classic and at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational, so I had a little bit to clean up coming here.”
Playing with heart and gratitude
Clean it up he did. Cink only made two bogeys in 54 holes, shot 62 in the second round, and played the nine par 5s in 12-under-par.
“I was very not sloppy this week,” he said. “This golf course is a good fit for me. I drove it really well and reduced a lot of these holes to short approaches.”
Cink gave those players chasing him a brief opening Sunday with a bogey on the 13th hole, but he immediately followed that by stuffing a wedge to tap-in distance on the next hole to regain a three-shot lead. With two par 5s remaining, that took all the drama out of the finish.
Cink’s victory will be remembered for the albatross he made to cap Saturday’s 62 that vaulted him to a two-shot lead with 18 holes to play.
Cink said he was glad he didn’t have to play any more shots after holing out for the albatross on Saturday.
“When something like that happens, it kind of shocks your system in a way,” he said. “My round was over, so I didn’t have to worry about hitting any bad shots the rest of the day.”
Cink said he knew that if he maintained his high level of play, he would be hard to catch on Sunday.
“It wasn’t hard to collect myself,” he said of the excitement the albatross provided. “I always reflect on my rounds and evaluate …. I’m not looking at fairways hit or things like that. It’s more like heart things and I felt like I was in a good place yesterday and Friday. I felt like if I could continue to do the same things today, it would be uphill battle for those guys to catch me and that’s kind of what I did. It wasn’t a spectacular day but it was a really solid round of golf.”
How Stewart Cink feels on the course
ink talked about the peace he feels when he is on the course.
“It’s like a having a heart of gratitude and understanding that I am blessed to be playing golf at 52 years old on the Champions Tour against these great players and at a place like this,” he said. “These fans are amazing. I have a lot of gratitude and I like to remind myself of how blessed I am to be able to do this. Having that kind of heart puts me in a place to perform well and the scores add up.”
The Champions Tour is off until mid-April when the season’s first major rolls around at the Senior PGA Championship in Bradenton, Florida.
Featured image: PGSA Tour Champions
Gregg Dewalt is the editor of Alabama Golf News
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