The 2023 Ryder Cup is still more than a couple weeks away, but if the scoring was based on calf muscles, the US would already hold an edge. And a HUGE one at that.

Zach Johnson’s squad gathered in Rome over the weekend for a scouting report of Marco Simone, but it was one particular photo from the team bonding mission that turned heads. And had everyone looking at Stewart Cink’s legs.

That’s because the 6ft 4ins American vice-captain looked like an absolute unit wearing team shorts. Let’s just say it doesn’t appear that the 50-year-old has skipped leg day since winning the 2009 Open Championship. Have a look for yourself. (Cink is on the left side of the photo, but you’ll have no problem finding the guy who looks like he’s standing on two oil barrels.)

??????

Thank you @marcosimonegolf for an amazing weekend! pic.twitter.com/F2r3IF2uWi

— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) September 9, 2023

What a beast. Even Phil Mickelson would have to be impressed. Seriously, how did Cink get those weapons through airport security?

Here’s a closer look. And we cropped the photo to keep Brooks Koepka in the frame because of his reputation for being a big, athletic dude:

Crazy. Anyway, there were plenty of other astute comments like why is Rickie Fowler the only person wearing pants? Or why is Brian Harman the only player not wearing white shoes? Or where the heck is Jordan Spieth?! But our favourties all involved Stew’s sticks. Here’s a sampling:

• Stewart Cink’s calves make Phil’s look like twigs
  — Zachary Dosch
• More importantly, what did they inject in to Cinks calves?
  — A-A Ron
• Cink is such a unit. Kitchen!
  — Taylor McCutcheon
• I had no idea Stuart Cink is 6’10” #RyderCupUSA
  — Scott Harb
• My god, the calves on Stewart…
  — Brandon Bush
• Call off the golf and have each team send one guy out to compete for the cup in a cage fight. Cink will fight for the US. Europe will probably forfeit.
  — Wild Bill

We’re guessing it won’t come to that, but yes, we would like Team USA’s chances in that unlikely scenario. Anyway, props to Cink for staying so fit at fifty. And if Captain Johnson doesn’t have his vice captains wear shorts every day for intimidation he should be relieved of his duties.

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It’s been well-established that golf is unlike most professional sports due to its athletes’ longevity, but a certain battle of the ages at this week’s Wyndham Championship is, well, one for the ages.

We’re talking about Akshay Bhatia and Stewart Cink being paired (along with Sam Burns) at Sedgefield Country Club. Why is that a big deal? Well, for one thing, one guy just turned 21 this year while the other has already started playing on the senior tour. Or, put another way, ol’ Stew wasn’t exactly snapping selfies when he won his first PGA Tour event.

But in addition to the three-decade gap between the two, there’s also this incredible stat that was unearthed by Sean Martin of PGATour.com:

Akshay Bhatia and Stewart Cink are paired at the Wyndham Championship. Bhatia is 21. Cink is 50.

Bhatia has been alive for 1,121 weeks.

Cink has been ranked 175th or better in the OWGR for 1,122.

— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) August 1, 2023

How ‘bout them apples? To be clear, this is way, way more impressive on the part of Cink because you’ve got to be really good for a really long time to pull off being in the top 175 of the Official World Golf Ranking for more than two decades. But it’s also yet another reminder of just how young Bhatia is.

Oh, and there’s one more interesting little wrinkle. Bhatia is coming off his maiden PGA Tour win and Cink was just named a vice captain for Team USA. So this could be a potential Ryder Cup audition as well. Good luck, young man. And tossing around “Mr. Cink” and “Sir” can’t hurt.

The post This mind-blowing stat shows just how crazy the Akshay Bhatia-Stewart Cink pairing is this week appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The summer is officially heating up, and we don’t mean that in a cliche way. It’s literally scorching hot, with Monday, July 3 being reported as the hottest day ever recorded globally. And it’s only going to get hotter, according to the “experts.”

For hardcore golfers, this means two things: 1. you’re about to go through a LOT of golf gloves in a short period of time, and 2. your golf tan is about to be in peak form. We’re talking about Stewart Cink black-and-white cookie head form:

Stewart Cink is tied for 4th but will remain undefeated as the holder of 'Golf's Worst Tan' award…. pic.twitter.com/oV3gZTupPI

— Your Golf Travel (@yourgolftravel) August 12, 2018

It’s unavoidable this time of year. Even if you load up on sunscreen (which you absolutely always should), it’s still going to be impossible to combat the goofy-ass golf tan look. A simple beach or pool day will quickly turn into a comedy hour with everyone pointing out that your feet are insanely white in comparison to your legs, and that your torso is blinding everyone. Put your shirt back on you freakshow. 

Those of us brave enough to show off the golf tan in public cannot be shamed, however. Some of us wear it with pride. People like Si Woo Kim. Heroes:

Me & Si Woo…we’re just alike. pic.twitter.com/0g1K3KHTdc

— Tour Junkies (@Tour_Junkies) July 5, 2023

Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff. If you just zoomed on on Si Woo’s bicep, you’d probably automatically assume it was Stewart Cink’s dome. That’s how you know this is one of the greats. Not to be outdone by Patrick Reed:

Let us celebrate the Patrick Reed tan-line forehead. cc: @ByTheMinGolf @Adam_Sarson @NoLayingUp pic.twitter.com/LuTyyhkp57

— Consolidated News (@ConsolidatedNws) January 13, 2015

Or Jim Furyk:

Jim Furyk's hat tan line is out of control!

The tan spot from the cutout above where you adjust hat size—that's just next level stuff. pic.twitter.com/ma32faNjif

— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) March 15, 2019

And there you have it, your Mount Rushmore of tour pro golfer tans: Stewart Cink, Si Woo Kim, Patrick Reed, Jim Furyk. That’s a group you can go to war with. A group that should probably mix in one shirtless beach day every now and then just to mitigate things, although that would mean we wouldn’t get these legendary photos. On second thought, keep doing what you’re doing, boys. 

RELATED: Paige Spiranac explains reason she wasn’t invited back to celeb event and it makes no sense

The post This tour pro’s golfer’s tan rivals Stewart Cink’s legendary hat tan appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Contrast that to 12 months ago, when Mickelson came out of nowhere to capture his second PGA Championship title and his sixth major just a month before his 51st birthday. He smashed the record for oldest major winner that the late Julius Boros had held since he won the 1968 PGA Championship at age 48.

“Certainly, one of the moments I’ll cherish my entire life,” Mickelson said in the aftermath. “I don’t know how to describe the feeling of excitement and fulfillment and accomplishment to do something when — you know, of this magnitude — when very few people thought that I could.”

Winner of the 2005 PGA, Mickelson arrived at Kiawah Island ranked 115th in the world and hadn’t had a top-10 finish on the PGA Tour in his previous 17 starts. The cagey left-hander, who joined the PGA Tour Champions in 2020 and enjoyed immediate success with wins in his first two starts, hadn’t finished in the top 10 in a major championship since the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon, where he was runner-up to Henrik Stenson.

Somehow, he summoned enough shot-making, guile and nerves at Kiawah to record a two-stroke victory over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen. Mickelson, who held at least a share of the lead the last three days, posted rounds of 70-69-70-73 to finish at six-under 282. It was a wildly popular victory authored by one of the game’s most beloved players, a crowning achievement in a career that includes 45 PGA Tour wins, tied for eighth all-time with Walter Hagen.

Because of his stature in the game and his status as one of top personalities in all of sports, Mickelson was celebrated far and wide for his unlikely victory. Social media exploded with reactions, most notably from sports stars, including Tom Brady, Steph Curry and even from Lefty’s longtime rival Tiger Woods. Mickelson himself never wasted a moment issuing reminders, subtle and otherwise, that he was owner of the Wanamaker Trophy. He was on top of the world — not just the golf world.

Phil Mickelson ermerges from a crowd of fans on the 18th hole in the final round. Patrick Smith

Mickelson has been accommodating in the past in offering his insights into and reflecting on other past major championships — notably, tough losses in the 2004 and ’06 US Opens and the 2016 Open Championship. The California native had agreed to an in-depth interview with Golf Digest to discuss his historic victory at Kiawah Island, but that was just days before his controversial comments. After that, he did not respond to repeated follow-up inquiries, and he has not made any public comments, except for releasing an apology on social media for the aforementioned remarks.

Though he is a past winner in both tournaments, Mickelson skipped the Players Championship and the Masters, and although he is registered for next week’s PGA and is on the tournament’s official list of entries, it is not known if he will defend his title.

The following is a compilation of observations from fellow players and others about Mickelson’s PGA Championship performance of a year ago, observations that augment the undeniable sentiment that the events that unfolded at Kiawah Island in the spring of 2021 possessed a mystical, magical quality.

Two weeks before the PGA Championship, in the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow, Stewart Cink, who won two PGA Tour events at age 47, played with Mickelson, who was a month shy of turning 51.

Cink: “We were paired together in Charlotte, and he was asking me about how I’ve experienced the changes in getting older — what, if anything, I’ve noticed about how I’m different, and if I’ve done anything about it. We just kinda talked about it for a whole hole — what have I noticed? What did I do about it?

“I just told him that the biggest thing for me since I’ve been in my forties has been the ability to intensely focus. I just feel like I’m a little bit more susceptible to distractions and that my focus is just wavering if my scores aren’t that great. He was very attentive to what I was saying, and, I mean, it must’ve stuck somehow. Cause he was very intent when he was at Kiawah about not hitting the shot until he was kind of dialed into it.

“We also discussed practice and schedule-making a bit. I think it’s natural for players that get older, you’ve got other things in your life that you really start to care about and take more attention, and the next shot on the course doesn’t feel like it means more to you as it once did back in your twenties or even thirties. And I think when that happens, it’s really easy to lose your focus. Phil obviously did a great job of staying with every shot at the PGA. He made the shots matter.”

Xander Schauffele has played many money games with Mickelson around San Diego and continued to do so leading up to the PGA.

Schauffele: “I think I got a real good feel for Phil when we played a lot. He’s just an unbelievable human when it comes to his playfulness and his persistency. Man, I beat him down during COVID. He was open about it. He admitted all of that. I was playing really well, and he wasn’t. Whether I pushed him to try to work harder … he was pretty open about saying he was always trying to learn, which I thought was pretty special for a guy of his stature and his ability and how long he’s been out there.”

Schauffele said he saw a change in Mickelson’s game in the build-up to the second major of the season.

Schauffele: “He was struggling. I don’t know if it was denial, or if he was struggling and working through something, He started working with [coach] Derek [Uyeda] on his putting a little bit. Getto [Mickelson’s swing coach Andrew Getson] was with him every week he was out. They were together at all times and figuring out his tendencies. He put the 2-wood into play and started playing better; then his self-belief caught on. Hodgepodge all that together, and there you go — Phil’s got his sixth major.”

Phil Mickelson works with putting coach Derek Uyeda early in the week of the PGA. Sam Greenwood

Uyeda, who is based at the Grand Del Mar in San Diego, works on putting with Schauffele and other tour players. He started working with Mickelson in the months before the PGA.

Uyeda: “We did a lot of work on the launch of his golf ball and the acceleration of his putting stroke. We used a machine called Quintic, which, in the wrong hands, can be pretty dangerous because there are a lot of metrics that you can take a look at. And Phil loves that stuff. But we kept it super, super simple. We made sure he was launching the ball correctly and making sure that the ball was coming off at the proper smash factor — or impact ratio. We did some green-reading work at his house.”

For the tournament, Mickelson successfully made 64 of 66 putts from seven feet or closer.

Uyeda: “The biggest thing was that week [at Kiawah] was really windy. Normally, with my guys, the range we want to putt good from is 10 feet and in. But it was so windy that week and the balls were getting blown around a lot, I told Phil that if we could just putt well from six feet and in, we’re going to have a good week. And he actually mentioned that on TV.”

On the 17th hole on Sunday, Mickelson boldly used the claw grip for the only time in the tournament — a move unrecognised by many — in successfully making a shorter par putt to retain the lead with one hole to play.

Uyeda: “So he knows he can launch the ball higher when he does the claw. So, for one putt the entire week, he went claw on 17, because he said his ball was sitting in a little depression. I don’t think a lot of people noticed that. This guy is so good that it doesn’t matter what the situation is, he’ll do what he needs to get it done.

“He’s a genius golfer. It’s crazy. To do that — he’s literally a different guy. Nobody else is going to do that. But he knew from all the research we did on the launch machine — if I need to launch it out of a depression so that it doesn’t bounce off-line, I know how to do it. And so, he did it. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. He’s going to the claw! It was pretty cool.”

Steve Stricker, the 2021 US Ryder Cup captain who tabbed Mickelson as a vice captain for Whistling Straits, played a practice round with Phil at Kiawah.

Stricker: “We played that Monday or Tuesday against Zach [Johnson] and Will Zalatoris, and we were both playing pretty well. Phil was hitting it great. We won, like, four of the first five holes, and typical Phil, he turns to me and says, ‘Geez Strick, I thought we’d be winning by more by now. We’re just two 50-something guys killing it.’ You just have to shake your head at the stuff he says. It was fun to be with him.

“But, you know, practice rounds are one thing, and the tournament is another, and so I didn’t give much thought, really, to whether or not Phil could win. That’s not to say I didn’t think he was capable, but I just wasn’t thinking about it.

Phil Mickelson walks and talks with Will Zalatoris during their practide round for the PGA. Patrick Smith

“Then he goes out and he keeps hanging in there, and he has the lead and isn’t going away, and I recognised that was the same Phil who was playing well in the practice round. That’s when I first thought he could win, was that last day, because I knew how he had been hitting it and, well, it’s Phil. He knew what to do being in the hunt.”

Jason Day, the 2015 PGA champ, was grouped in the first two competitive rounds with Mickelson and Padraig Harrington, winner of the 2008 PGA. Mickelson opened with a 70 and backed that up with a 69 to share the lead at five under with Oosthuizen.

Day: “I just noticed that during his normal tournaments, [Mickelson] was walking around and you could tell that he wasn’t just quite 100-per-cent comfortable with himself. And then during that week, I could just tell something kind of flipped in him. Everything was more slow. Everything was more deliberate. I actually talked to my caddie about that. I said he was taking a lot longer than what he usually does. And he just looked a lot more focused. And then he kind of just went through the first two rounds. I missed the cut. Watching him on the weekend as the tournament went on, it was very much the same; he just kind of took advantage of everything.”

Day watched Mickelson and thought he wasn’t overswinging. Using his 2-wood on numerous holes, Mickelson hit 55 per cent of Kiawah’s fairways, or a smidge better than his 54-per-cent average for the entire season. His average drives for the PGA (299 yards) were only two yards shorter than his mark for the year. He reached 63 per cent of the greens in regulation — almost exactly his number for the season.

Day: “He didn’t hit a lot of balls that were off the planet. You know what I mean? So, he kept it out in front of himself and he was able to score better that way. And he pretty much did that the whole week. I know that Phil likes to hit his so-called ‘bombs.’ But for me, personally, if I was telling him something, and sometimes it’s hard to tell Phil something because he’s got a little bit of an ego when it comes to golf … but it would be ‘Stop trying to hit it as far.’ He still gets it out there pretty good, but take a little something off and hit it on the fairway. He just needed to give himself more opportunities. Which is what he did all week.”

Harrington, 50, with three major wins, has long enjoyed playing with Mickelson and the rapport they have, and the Irishman felt like the friendly grouping helped both of them. He would end up tying for fourth.

Harrington: “[Mickelson] was overpowered through six, seven holes [at three over par] and struggling [in the first round]. And then he had a bad tee shot on 10 and got away with it, and then made birdie from it. And he never looked back. He played great after that. … That’s what happens in golf. You get a little break here and there, and you hit a shot that you feel good about, and then he was right in it from there on.

“Look, he plays such a high-risk game. He knows, or he feels anyway, that he has to bring his A-plus game to win. And he goes for his A-plus game on every shot. And that’s just the way he is. If it doesn’t work out, so be it; he’s not interested in not winning.”

Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka watch Mickelson’s shot on the 11th hole during the final round. Patrick Smith

Brooks Koepka, who won back-to-back PGA titles in 2018-19, played alongside Mickelson in the final round and ended up finishing T-2 after a closing 74. Here’s what he said in the immediate aftermath.

Koepka: “The thing was, Phil played great. That whole stretch when we turned after 4 and 5 and played those holes, [the wind] it’s into off the left for me and that’s quite difficult for a right-handed player. And it suited Phil right down to the ground, and I thought he played that entire stretch from about 6 to 13 so well. So, you know, I’m happy for him, Amy and Tim [Phil’s brother and caddie]. It’s pretty cool to see, but a bit disappointed in myself.”

Scott Verplank, a winner of five PGA Tour titles, was working for CBS/ESPN and followed Mickelson all four rounds. He could not believe what he was seeing.

Verplank: “Last year I did that featured group on ESPN, and I had him every day, and it was nothing short of amazing. And that was awesome for me because I saw every shot. It was very amazing. He played very unlike himself, at least what he had been doing recently. He wasn’t wild.”

Schauffele contends he wasn’t shocked when Mickelson pulled off the win.

Schauffele: “Everyone is surprised when Phil does something crazy — but not really, because his self-belief is his biggest strength and his biggest attribute. And you need as much self-belief as possible when you’re trying to win big tournaments. And man, does he have it.”

A fellow lefty, Steve Flesch, who is 54 and a regular on the Champions Tour, contemplated the far-reaching impact of Mickelson’s win.

Flesch: “Selfishly, I think a lot of people at our [PGA Tour Champions] were looking forward to him playing, ‘cause it helps give us a little more identity. People will tune in to watch the Champions if Ernie Els is playing or Freddy [Couples], and Phil is on that list of players people want to watch.

“You look at his level of play, but it’s his belief that he can still compete and win out there at that level that’s mind blowing. I mean, it’s not like he won Hartford. No disrespect to Hartford at all, but to win the PGA Championship was something else. And we were all happy for him.

“But at the same time I think we all were a little disappointed. That sounds really terrible, but we want eyeballs on our tour, and he brings eyeballs. He still might play a few out here, but why would he play a lot of senior golf when he’s in every major for another five years?”

Ernie Els, 52, who’s won two US Opens and two Open Championships, captured his most recent major victory at age 37 and marvelled at Mickelson’s accomplishment.

Els: “I’ve played against Phil for so many years now, and I have to say that winning that PGA was about the most incredible thing he’s done. Those of us around 50 still think we can win against the young guys, and maybe still win a major with our experience. But he actually went out there and did it, and you have to tip your cap to him.”

Phil Mickelson celebrates holing ot a bunker shot on the fifth hole during the final round. Montana Pritchard/PGA of America

Though Stricker and Mickelson talked little about the upcoming Ryder Cup during the PGA week, they spoke soon after about Whistling Straits and Mickelson’s role there.

Stricker: “I called him to talk about where he was as far as being an assistant if he didn’t make the team as a player. I told him I’d love to have him as a player, especially after he won, and he said to me, ‘I need to show you something more.’ And I told him that I agreed. He already was thinking that to be on the team he needed to show some consistency, and we agreed on that. So, he knew that one tournament, even though it was the PGA, wasn’t going to be enough to get him on the team.”

Three months after Mickelson captured the PGA, Schauffele won the gold medal at the Olympics in Japan. After Xander’s triumph, he and Mickelson got together for a round in San Diego, and there was Phil, with a surprise.

Schauffele: “He brought his [Wanamaker] trophy out. It was bungie-tied to his cart. He was hoping I was going to bring my gold medal out and we could talk some smack. Back to classic Phil. I told him the gold medal was a few weeks in the past and I was trying to move forward. [Laughs]. He thought that was pretty funny.”

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The post ‘Nothing short of amazing’: An oral history of Phil Mickelson’s improbable 2021 PGA Championship win appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Shane Ryan
HILTON HEAD, S.C. — “He’s old and he’s kicking everyone’s a**.”

Those words, from Harold Varner III, came right after he called Stewart Cink “old as—” and stopped himself in the nick of time, and maybe all the summary we need for what went down this weekend in Hilton Head.

The truth is, we’re running out of things to say about Cink in the aftermath of his near wire-to-wire victory, so how about a question: Was the 2021 RBC Heritage over as soon as the second hole on Sunday, when Collin Morikawa followed up his opening birdie with a bogey on the relatively easy par 5? Or was it basically clinched when Cink—now a three-time champion at this event—followed-up his opening 63-63 with a Saturday 69 that maintained a five-shot advantage and turned a hot South Carolina Sunday into a long, slightly dull coronation? It’s tempting to endorse this viewpoint, especially considering the methodical approach mastered by Cink and his son Reagan, who plotted out the course in almost robotic fashion to the point that only a full meltdown from the 47-year-old in the midst of a career renaissance could change the outcome.

Of course, a scintillating round to the tune of 64 or 65 from Morikawa wasn’t out of the question. But the weakest part of his game—putting—was under the spotlight almost immediately. After holing a 16-footer for birdie on the first—the definition of false hope—he missed par putts of six feet and five feet in close succession, and then went on a long par parade, nine holes long, until he found the water on 14 and officially put an end to even the faintest chance of victory. Morikawa needed a hot streak on the greens, but as 14 proved, even his usually stellar irons let him down for most of the final round.

“Just overall nothing was feeling great,” he said. “When you’re trying to win in a final round, that’s not going to do the job.”

With Morikawa gone, the job of forming a chase pack fell to Harold Varner III, Emiliano Grillo and Maverick McNealy. But they all started from too far behind, and Cink’s methodical, defensive round—high in cautious intelligence, if not in style or ambition—slowly, boa constrictor-like, choked the life out of the field. The closest anyone would come was 15 under, which was nowhere near good enough when you consider that Cink started at 18 under.

In all, the now eight-time PGA Tour winner’s brilliance peaked on Thursday and Friday, when he obliterated the 36-hole record at Harbour Town by three shots. Sunday will rightly be remembered an exemplary bit of defensive golf. Cink would not call his effort defensive, but the one-under 71 qualifies, and the only vaguely negative thing you can say about the day is that he didn’t quite catch the all-time record of 22 under set by Webb Simpson last summer.

In his post-round presser, Cink spoke of his Christian faith. A questioner then asked about Varner’s “compliment,” seemingly apologising for the language.

“I don’t think that just because you’re a follower of Christ that you can’t say you kicked ass,” he said. “I kicked ass.”

Sam Greenwood
Cink talked up all week his son Reagan’s influence on his career resurgence since he took over as caddie last fall.

Even the hecklers couldn’t faze Cink. When a spectator shouted “don’t choke today!” before his round, he used it as a chance for introspection, to wonder if deep down, choking was his big fear. And touching base with himself that way allowed him to return to what he calls his “mountaintop of trust,” which applies to such broad concepts as mid-round serenity and such narrow ones as making short putts.

And really, what more is there to say about Cink and the 2021 Heritage? We wrote about him Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and here we are again. At this beautiful venue with its laid-back vibe, well … it was a great weekend to write about yachts and mascots. You know all about Cink’s son and their system, you know all about his new strength and fitness regimen with Cornell Driessen, you know he hit his first shot in the water on Thursday and never looked back, and if you’re really following this closely, you might even know he has to move from one Atlanta residence to another starting Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. Short of contacting his movers for a quote, we’re running out of things to say, and as early as Friday, a group of writers were reduced to wondering if his son Reagan was named after Ronald Reagan (answer: no).

Well, here are a few more: Cink joined Julius Boros, Sam Snead and Kenny Perry as the only men to ever win multiple times on the PGA Tour at age 47 or older. His chief challenger at the start of the day, Morikawa, was born a few months after Cink’s first win on the old Nike Tour. When his son Reagan (born the same year as Morikawa) took over his bag, Cink was hanging around outside the top 300. With this win, he’ll be inside the top 45 and in prime position to make the Tour Championship and can perhaps dream of the Ryder Cup, too.

But Cink isn’t the kind of person who’s going to look too far into the future, especially when the present is so good. On the 18th hole, after his approach ran off the green, Cink and his son laughed, and he joked, “it’s dry.” That could have been a description of the final round, but his career resurgence at this late stage is boring in no respect, and the exchange between father and son in the moments after the last par putt went down was one of those simple moments that cuts through cynicism:

“What a week.”

“Good stuff, dad.”

Ditto for the CBS interview, standing beside his whole family, a portrait of wholesome triumph, and a group experiencing one of the best moments of their lives.

Patrick Smith
Unlike at Safeway, where Connor (second from right) was missing, the entire Cink family, including wife Lisa, was on hand at Hilton Head to enjoy the cheers.

“What’s so amazing is this kind of rebirth that Stewart is experiencing and at such an older age,” his wife Lisa said. “I’m just in awe of how well he’s playing at this time in his career.”

Between Varner and his own wife, it seems that the price of winning at 47 is being reminded that you’re no longer young, but Cink won’t complain. If anything, victory is sweeter with age.

The post Maybe Stewart Cink is getting old, but he keeps proving that winning doesn’t appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
For the last four days at the RBC Heritage, the game of golf was very easy for 47-year-old Stewart Cink. He went 63-63 Thursday and Friday, then closed the deal with a 69-70 weekend to finish off his eighth career PGA Tour win. At times, it looked carefree, but he and his caddie/son Reagan know that executing a game plan to near perfection is anything but.

But that’s exactly what the father and son duo did for 72 straight holes. They were nearly perfect, pops playing expertly tee to green and son coaching him every step of the way. The one-two Cink punch now has two victories on the 2020-21 PGA Tour season, the first coming at the Safeway Open in the fall. It’s evolved into quite the productive partnership, a credit to their relationship on and off the course.

“Everything between the shots, walking down the fairways, just hanging out,” said Reagan when asked why they are so successful together. “We talk and we plan the shots, and we’ve got a good system and all that, but it’s the time we spend together joking around and walking down the fairway.

“It’s awesome. It’s the best, it really is.”

Cink, who became the first player to win twice in the same season at 47 years or older since Kenny Perry (in 2008 and in 2009), couldn’t agree more. As the whole family lined up to be interviewed after the final putt dropped, none of them could contain their excitement.

“I don’t know if I have words,” said Cink as he pulled his other son Connor in close. “It just keeps getting better. Winning with Reagan back in the fall was amazing but Connor couldn’t be there, it was his birthday. But today he changed his flight from Wyoming to be here just for this. There was no way I was gonna not win with him coming all the way from Wyoming.”

There was no way Cink was not going to win, period. For the fourth straight day he hit at least 12 of 18 greens, he finished the week ranked first in the field in strokes gained/tee-to-green as well as total strokes gained. He hit the ball so well that he needed less than 30 feet of putts to shoot a one-under 70 in the final round. That turned out to be plenty good enough for a four-shot win, his third career victory at the RBC Heritage. It was a clinic in finishing the job, and it makes him the second multiple-winner this season on tour. The other? Bryson DeChambeau.

Three other takeaways from the final round at Harbour Town.

Sam Greenwood

A (surprising) career-first for Harold Varner III
Given his popularity, and how often he seemingly hangs around the top of the leader board, you’d think Harold Varner III would have a bunch of “near wins” piled up already. In reality, HV3’s career best finish is a T-3 at the 2019 Northern Trust, and that remains his only finish inside the top three. Wait, really?

Yes, really. Varner has collected a decent amount of top-10s, but not much in the way of victory scares. On Sunday, the 30-year-old from North Carolina didn’t scare victory either, but he did lock up a tie for second, which is now his career best finish on tour. Considering how much they give out for T-2s on today’s PGA Tour, we can almost guarantee Varner will have a proper celebration on Sunday evening.

After the round, Varner made a big deal of how he hopes his play this week will kick-start his game into the run-up not just for the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, but the Wells Fargo in his home state. “That’s my major,” he said. “And if I want to play well there, I know I have to start playing well now.”

Mission accomplished.

Patrick Smith

Maverick McNealy keeps getting closer
Like Varner, Maverick McNealy is already a well-known name on tour despite not having the résumé to back it up. That’s changing in 2021, though, as McNealy has now added a second finish of T-4 or better this season, both of them coming in his last six starts. Next week, at Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the two-man team event on the PGA Tour, McNealy will partner up with fellow Stanford alum Joseph Bramlett. They could be live, according to McNealy.

“We’re actually roommates,” McNealy said of he and Bramlett. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t preparing a little extra hard for this couple-week stretch, and I think that helped me a lot because I’m playing for more than myself next week, and Joseph and I can’t wait to get going.”

The Bramlett-McNealy duo will likely be a juicy number on odds boards Monday morning. They have our attention.

Patrick Smith

An uncharacteristic Sunday for Collin Morikawa
On Saturday night, Collin Morikawa didn’t sound too pleased with how he played up to that point, calling it “little specks of good golf.” It shows how highly he regards his own game, since he was tied for second at that point, but also that he wasn’t feeling particularly great about how he was playing.

He may have been on to something, as he shot a one-over 72 to finish seven back. It was a very uncharacteristic Sunday for Morikawa, who has proven to be a very clutch player in his first few seasons on tour. We’re going to go out on a limb and say he’ll bounce back, though, Next week, he’ll play Zurich, then take three weeks off before he defends his title at the PGA.

The post Stewart Cink finishes the job, HV3’s career-first and Maverick McNealy keeps getting closer appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By GolfDigest.com
Despite carrying a five-shot lead into the final round of the RBC Heritage, Stewart Cink had two menacing statistical trends weighing on his 47-year-old body come Sunday:

• Just once since 2012 had a 54-hole leader at Hilton Head gone on to win the title (Webb Simpson accomplishing the feat a year ago).

• Just twice in the previous 12 times that Cink had held the 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event had he managed to win the title.

In the end, five shots was enough to help Cink regress to the mean on both accounts. A closing one-under 70 was steady if not spectacular, which was all that was needed for the 25-year-old tour veteran to grab his eighth career tour title and win at Harbour Town Golf Links for the third time (2000 and 2004).

As Cink pulled out the victory, he earned the $1.278 million winner’s check. That turns out to be the biggest paycheck Cink has ever cashed on the PGA Tour (his 2009 Open Championship win earned him $1,221,005).

The overall prize money payout for this week at Hilton Head was $7.1 million. Here are payouts for each of the 65 golfers who made the cut this week. We’ll update this to list specific names and how much money they earned shortly..

Win: Stewart Cink, -19, $1,278,000

T-2: Harold Varner III, -15, $631,900

T-2: Emiliano Grillo, -15, $631,900

T-4: Maverick McNealy, -13, $298,791.67

T-4: Corey Conners, -13, $298,791.67

T-4: Matt Fitzpatrick, -13, $298,791.67

T-7: Chris Kirk, 272/-12, $230,750

T-7: Collin Morikawa, 272/-12, $230,750

T-9: Russell Henley, 273/-11, $186,375

T-9: Shane Lowry, 273/-11, $186,375

T-9: Webb Simpson, 273/-11, $186,375

T-9: Cameron Smith, 273/-11, $186,375

T-13: Daniel Berger, 274/-10, $130,995

T-13: Brian Harman, 274/-10, $130,995

T-13: Sungjae Im, 274/-10, $130,995

T-13: Dustin Johnson, 274/-10, $130,995

T-13: Denny McCarthy, 274/-10, $130,995

T-18: Charles Howell III, 275/-9, $87,583.58

T-18: Abraham Ancer, 275/-9, $87,583.57

T-18: Charley Hoffman, 275/-9, $87,583.57

T-18: Matt Kuchar, 275/-9, $87,583.57

T-18: Brian Stuard, 275/-9, $87,583.57

T-18: Matt Wallace, 275/-9, $87,583.57

T-18: Danny Willett, 275/-9, $87,583.57

MORE: The secret to watching golf on a yacht at Hilton Head

T-25: Wesley Bryan, 276/-8, $52,273.75

T-25: Cameron Davis, 276/-8, $52,273.75

T-25: Tom Hoge, 276/-8, $52,273.75

T-25: Billy Horschel, 276/-8, $52,273.75

T-25: Tom Lewis, 276/-8, $52,273.75

T-25: Alex Noren, 276/-8, $52,273.75

T-25: Adam Schenk, 276/-8, $52,273.75

T-25: Camilo Villegas, 276/-8, $52,273.75

T-33: Doug Ghim, 277/-7, $37,866.67

T-33: Lucas Glover, 277/-7, $37,866.67

T-33: Si Woo Kim, 277/-7, $37,866.67

T-33: Andrew Landry, 277/-7, $37,866.67

T-33: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, 277/-7, $37,866.66

T-33: Kevin Streelman, 277/-7, $37,866.66

T-39: Sam Burns, 278/-6, $30,885

T-39: Tyrrell Hatton, 278/-6, $30,885

T-39: Brendon Todd, 278/-6, $30,885

T-42: Branden Grace, 279/-5, $24,495

T-42: Scott Harrington, 279/-5, $24,495

T-42: Chase Seiffert, 279/-5, $24,495

T-42: Brandt Snedeker, 279/-5, $24,495

T-42: Michael Thompson, 279/-5, $24,495

T-42: Will Zalatoris, 279/-5, $24,495

T-48: Matthew NeSmith, 280/-4, $18,957

T-48: Ian Poulter, 280/-4, $18,957

T-48: Kevin Tway, 280/-4, $18,957

51: Rory Sabbatini, 281/-3, $17,821

T-52: Brice Garnett, 282/-2, $17,004.50

T-52: Mackenzie Hughes, 282/-2, $17,004.50

T-52: Ryan Moore, 282/-2, $17,004.50

T-52: Robert Streb, 282/-2, $17,004.50

T-56: Dylan Frittelli, 283/-1, $16,472

T-56: Kyoung-Hoon Lee, 283/-1, $16,472

58: Luke List, 284/E, $16,259

T-59: Harry Higgs, 285/+1, $15,975

T-59: Robert MacIntyre, 285/+1, $15,975

T-59: Sepp Straka, 285/+1, $15,975

62: Scott Piercy, 286/+2, $15,691

63: Lee Westwood, 287/+3, $15,549

64: Wyndham Clark, 288/+4, $15,407

65: Sung Kang, 289/+5, $15,265

The post This Oldie is a Goodie appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Shane Ryan
HILTON HEAD, S.C.—This coming week, after the RBC Heritage is over, Stewart Cink will undergo one of the least fun processes in life: moving from one place to another. Saturday night, following a third-round 69 that represented a comedown from his ridiculous 63-63 opening rounds, but kept him five shots ahead of his nearest competitor, Cink claimed that the move—and not the pressure cooker awaiting him Sunday—represents his greatest source of stress. It’s up to you whether you believe him or think it’s a bit of useful fiction, but standing at the podium, he didn’t look like someone with a case of the Saturday night jitters.

“It’ll be a nice respite tomorrow from the real pressure which is coming the next three days when the movers show up,” he said.

Of course, his is not a flawless record while holding Saturday night leads, as he was quick to admit.

“I’ve been there before,” he said. “I’ve certainly been nervous and thrown up on myself and I’ve also played great in that situation.”

In all, Cink has held a solo or shared lead after 54 holes 12 times and has translated only two of those leads into victories—the WGC-NEC Invitational in 2004, and the Travelers in 2008. He’s lost a lot more than he’s won, and as he noted, some of them weren’t so pretty—a 74 at the PODS Championship in 2008, a 72 at the U.S. Open in 2001, and, perhaps most relevantly for this year, a 73 right here in Hilton Head in 2003, which saw him slip from the solo lead to T-10.

That said, this is an emphatic lead, with Cink standing at 18 under (the Heritage 54-hole record by two strokes), and though Collin Morikawa (third-round 67) is certainly capable of chasing him down from five back, it will require something close to a perfect round, and a major hiccup from Cink. The last time Cink held a five-shot lead, at the ’04 NEC, he beat Tiger Woods and Rory Sabbatini by four. On Saturday, he referred to that win and seemed to indicate that he’d be even better prepared this time around.

“I was in this situation one time about 17 years ago at Firestone,” he said. “I remember sleeping little that night, and I’m a little different person now, and I think I’m treating this whole tournament with a little bit more gratitude, with Reagan caddying and all that stuff, and it’s been sort of a stop and sort of pinch myself along the way and enjoying it more than I’m fretting over it.”

Cink has clearly benefited from the presence of his son Reagan as caddie, and his work with trainer and physiotherapist Cornel Driessen—in which they target various muscle groups to increase specific strength, flexibility, and balance. That effort has resulted in greater speed and power and also helped rejuvenate his game.

Patrick Smith
Stewart Cink plays his shot from the 18th tee during the third round of the RBC Heritage.

“It’s been a huge help for me to have him overseeing sort of my physical state of my body,” he said. “I was going through an injury right when I started with him in ’19. I missed some time and had to work my way back from the medical ranks. Winning at Safeway [in 2020] was the icing on the cake as far as getting out of the medical ranks for sure.”

In short, Cink is prepared mentally, psychologically, and physically, and there will be no shortage of planning in the Saturday night strategy session with Reagan. Still, he knows better than to take anything for granted.

“It’ll still be a roller coaster tomorrow emotionally,” he said, “and it’s going to be a fun challenge to embrace that instead of fighting against it, creating some kind of a conflict.”

Cink mentioned that point frequently—the inevitability of wanting to play cautious, defensive golf in order to protect his lead, and the need to embrace what he called the “tingles” that will come on Sunday.

He scrambled successfully on Saturday on a day that was significantly more difficult for him, and for most of the rest of the field, than it had been on Thursday and Friday, and smart money says he’ll have to pull himself out of a few jams on Sunday too. But if anyone has ever been ready for this moment, it’s Cink.

Prior to the Heritage, he was a golfer on the rebound, but as the week goes on, he’s looking more and more like one of the best golfers in the world. At 47, he’s entering a late peak, and that alone is miraculous. One more competent day, and he’ll add an eight PGA Tour win to his resume … at which point he can exhale, raise the trophy, and start worrying about those movers.

The post This huge lead feels different to Stewart Cink heading into Sunday appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Feinstein
Brian Gay is keenly aware of the fact that he’s 48. He also knows that he’s competing with players on the PGA Tour who can hit their golf balls into the next county while his don’t come close to the county line. And yet, on Sunday, he found out that he can compete with them—and, on occasion, can still beat them.

Gay came from nowhere—both in 2020 and on the back nine to win the Bermuda Championship, shooting a seven-under-par 64 on Sunday, then beating Wyndham Clark with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff for his first win in more than eight years.

“It’s easy to doubt yourself,” said Gay, who had missed the cut in nine of his last 11 tournaments and trailed Clark by three with nine holes to play. “The players are so good and so young. A lot of them are my daughter’s age.”

The older of Gay’s two daughters, MacKinley, is 21—the same age as Matthew Wolff, who has already won on tour and finished second at this year’s U.S. Open and T-4 at the PGA. Collin Morikawa, who won the PGA, is 23. Bryson DeChambeau is the old man among the tour’s galaxy of young guns—he’s 26.

But while a lot of people are panting—understandably—about the kids, there are still old guys proving they can still teach the kids a thing or two about competing—and about winning.

So far in this weird 2020-2021 season, three of the eight winners have been 40-somethings.

After the tour’s annual three-day offseason following the Tour Championship, Stewart Cink won the Safeway Classic. This was a story that should have had Disney producers scrambling to start the movie: Cink hadn’t won since the 2009 British Open, when he played the black hat to the white hat of then-59-year-old Watson, beating him in a playoff. Not only had he not won in 11 years since then, he and his family had to endure his wife Lisa’s battle with stage-4 breast cancer, which is just a tad more difficult to live with than a putting slump.

Sergio Garcia’s win at the Sanderson Farms Classic three weeks later may not have been as melodramatic, but it was certainly full of emotion. Garcia hadn’t won on the PGA Tour since the 2017 Masters and he revealed after the round that he had recently lost two uncles to COVID-19.

And now there’s Gay’s victory—his fifth on tour. He hadn’t won since 2013, when he won what was once the Bob Hope Desert Classic under some other corporate name at that time. As a bonus, Gay will get to go back to the Masters—next April—because Bermuda became a full-fledged tour event this fall when the HSBC event in China was cancelled. Gay has played in the Masters only twice—missing the cut in 2010 and finishing T-38 three years later. No doubt he thought his days teeing it up at Augusta were behind him.

John McEnroe, who won seven major singles titles in his Hall-of-Fame tennis career, once said players go through three stages with fans during their careers. “When you’re young, everybody loves you because you’re something new and you’re the underdog, playing against the older guys. Then, when you become a star, people root against you because they want to see the underdog win. And then, when you’re old, they love you again, because you aren’t supposed to be good enough to win anymore.”

Right now, golf is in a period where it has very good players at all three of the McEnroe stages. There are the talented youngsters like Morikawa, Wolff, Victor Hovland and Jon Rahm. All are 25 or under. Then there are the guys just coming into their prime who are already stars: Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and DeChambeau come to mind. Jordan Spieth is still only 26. He’s won three majors, and when he finds his missing game again it will be a huge story. The barely into their 30s set includes Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Tony Finau and Rickie Fowler—who doesn’t have the record of a star, but has the charisma and sponsor list of one. Throw in Webb Simpson at 35 and Dustin Johnson at 36. Then come the old guys, one of them being Eldrick Tiger Woods, who will be 45 in December.

Sam Greenwood
Sergio Garcia celebrates after making birdie on the 18th green during the final round to win the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Woods isn’t close to being the player he was when he was the best in the world—and arguably in history—but he found lightning in a Rae’s Creek bottle a year ago in April to win a fifth Masters and will be the biggest story when the Masters begins next week because he is always the biggest story whenever he tees it up, whether his golf game merits it or not.

Until he’s out of contention—IF he’s out of contention—Woods will have everyone in TV and the media panting about his every swing, putt and utterance.

And, let’s not forget Phil Mickelson, whose days as a factor on the PGA Tour MIGHT be over at 50, but will undoubtedly make headlines playing with the over-50 set. He’s played twice, won twice on that tour. Knowing Mickelson, he will find a way to compete at least once more either at Augusta or, in another potential Disney movie, at a U.S. Open.

The point here is that golf has probably never been more flush, not just with good to very good to great players, but with wonderful stories.

Morikawa’s victory at Harding Park was something to behold and so was DeChambeau’s victory at Winged Foot, although if he becomes the next role model for young players the average tour round five years from now will be about seven hours.

Ezra Shaw
Collin Morikawa kisses the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2020 PGA Championship.

Forgetting the TV executives’ Fantasy Island wishes of a Woods or Mickelson victory at Augusta consider a few possibilities: McIlroy closing out the career grand slam; DeChambeau overpowering the course, forcing the members of lengthen it to about 8,000 yards; Morikawa adding a second major before turning 24; Spieth making a comeback on his favourite golf course; Garcia winning a second major; Koepka finding health and his game; Rahm winning his first major and joining Seve Ballesteros and Jose-Maria Olazabal as Spanish winners at Augusta.

The list goes on.

And it isn’t just at Augusta.

Tournament sponsors tend to think they need the biggest names to play to give their tournaments legitimacy and to ensure TV ratings. No doubt stars on the leader board help TV ratings and, even now, all numbers double if Woods is involved.

But there are new stars now—different ones popping up all the time. If you don’t want to see Morikawa play, you don’t like golf. Same for Wolff, Rahm and Hovland. DeChambeau is certainly unique.

Years ago, the PGA Tour put together a series of PSA’s with the slogan, “These Guys Are Good.”

That has never been truer than it is right now. Gay proved it again on Sunday. He beat Clark—who is all of 26, but certainly not too old to date his daughter. He’s not the only one Gay is competing with who can make that claim. All these guys are good—old, middle-aged and young.

The post ‘Old guys’ uprising is proof that PGA Tour’s talent pool is deeper than ever appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
With a flashlight in his pocket and golf clubs in hand, Camiko Smith hopped his backyard fence onto the fourth hole of the Port Royal Golf Course on his island homeland of Bermuda. It was there that he first picked up the game as a young boy when the caddie master gave him a single club, and it was Port Royal that became his constant practice and proving ground, even when he’d sneak on, put his flashlight next to the flagstick and practice in the faint glow of nearby streetlights. At least until someone kicked him off.

“That’s it right there, man,” Smith said proudly in a press conference on Tuesday. “No. 4 is my yard.”

The PGA Tour this week is staging the Bermuda Championship at Port Royal, a fledgeling event that was inaugurated last year but has taken on greater importance this season due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was supposed to be played opposite the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, but when that event had to be cancelled, Bermuda’s status was raised to standalone, with a full allotment of FedEx Cup points coming with it.

Brendon Todd is back to defend his championship from last year, and there are five former major winners in the field, including Henrik Stenson, Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington. But no one this week is a better story than the 35-year-old Smith, who will make his PGA Tour debut after earning a spot by capturing the PGA Bermuda Championship.

To understand the enormity of this moment for Smith is to know that he carried a bag as a caddie in last year’s tournament, and in the downtime created by COVID-19, he’s been installing doors and windows for a commercial glass company on the island.

“Definitely very excited,” Smith said. “Scale of 1 to 10, I would say 9. It’s pretty high up there. To have it on my island, on my home course, right in my neighbourhood, front yard, backyard, it’s super exciting. Really looking forward to it, to being out there.”

Who knows if nerves will completely overtake Smith when his tee time arrives on Thursday, but if course knowledge accounts for anything, he’s miles ahead of the field. He can’t count the number of times he’s played Port Royal—it’s at least in the hundreds—and he was a pre-teen when he took up playing. Caddie master Teddy Greaves gave Smith his first golf club and every weekend the two would play and hit balls together.

“Him giving me access to the golf course, allowing me to hit balls, taking me out on the golf course on the weekend and play, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now. Yeah, a lot of gratitude towards him,” Smith said. “And he’s super excited.

Smith eventually caddied at Port Royal and other courses, and the island’s top golfers provided tutelage. It was Tiger Woods’ victory in the 1997 Masters that fueled Smith’s dream to play on the PGA Tour, and the caddie work eventually provided him with enough cash to go to Orlando and work with instructor Fred Griffin at the Grand Cypress Golf Academy.

Cliff Hawkins
Camiko Smith caddied at last year’s inaugural Bermuda Championship at Port Royal.

Smith improved quickly, and he has been trying to forge his way on mini tours across the United States. He earned the fervent admiration of Bermudians when in a 2017 pro event he shot six under on the front nine and posted a 64 at Port Royal to tie the then-course record held by Masters champion Adam Scott. (That total was eclipsed by several players in last year’s Bermuda Championship, with the winner, Todd, shooting 62 and 63.)

The coronavirus has put at least a temporary obstruction in Smith’s path. With few opportunities to play competitively, he took a job four months ago with the glass company. Smith gets up at 4 a.m. to hit the gym, works on installations from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and then goes to the course to hit balls. He chuckled when noting that he’s a professional who’s hands mean everything while he constantly works around sharp objects.

“It’s pretty interesting,” he said. “I play golf and I’m working with glass. I guess it’s touch-and-go sometimes. I’ve got to be very, very cautious, but it’s definitely helped me along the way just keeping my passion and drive alive. It’s definitely helped me refocus that a lot.”

Smith said his boss graciously gave him two weeks off to prepare for the PGA Bermuda tournament that he won with scores of 70-71. “I told him, ‘Hey, look, if get in, another two weeks off.’ He called me and said, ‘You’ve got another two weeks off, here you go.’ He’s pretty stoked about it.”

The tour chose Bermuda as the first site to allow fans in attendance since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and don’t be surprised if Smith’s gallery is as plentiful as the major champions on his backyard course, which happens to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

“Knowing that, I would say it’s a humbling experience for that to happen at this time,” Smith said. “Just looking forward to make everybody proud, make myself proud, and my family and the island proud.”

The post On his home course, Bermuda native seeing dream come true in his first PGA Tour start appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.