Stewart Cink builds 3-shot lead, eyes bid to win 2nd straight senior major
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Stewart Cink elevated his lead to three strokes Saturday in tough wind situations on the Regions Tradition in his bid to win consecutive senior major titles.
After opening with two 7-under 65s at Greystone to take a two-shot edge, Cink had a 71 to get to 15-under 201 in his house state occasion. He received the major Senior PGA Championship two weeks in the past in Florida for his third victory of the yr on the 50-and-over tour.
“Overall today it was just a lot harder day to score,” Cink mentioned. “I wasn’t quite as sharp either as I was the first couple days, but sometimes the golf course it just turns on you a little bit. The wind direction on a lot of the holes was awkward and it was difficult to pick out a lot of the gusts in the direction of it.”
In wind gusting to 20 mph, the 52-year-old Cink offset a double bogey on the par-5 fifteenth with birdies on the par-3 14th and par-5 18th.
“The birdie at the last was nice,” mentioned Cink, introduced as an assistant captain for the US Ryder Cup crew Saturday. “That was some pretty good shots. But the double on the 15th hole was what happens when you hit a whole bunch of bad shots in one hole. You get a bad score.”
Sixty-two-year-old Colin Montgomerie was second, closing with a bogey for a 67.
“This is the beauty of the game of golf that age is just a number,” Montgomerie mentioned. “If it was any other sport, you would be well gone by now.”
Doug Barron (69) and Steven Alker (71) had been 10 beneath.
Cink opened the season with a victory in January in Hawaii within the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, then received the Hoag Classic and Senior PGA in consecutive begins in late March and April. He has seven profession senior titles after profitable eight occasions on the PGA Tour, highlighted by a playoff victory over Tom Watson within the 2009 British Open.
Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk introduced Cink and Justin Leonard as assistant captains throughout a tv interview on the Kentucky Derby. The matches are subsequent yr at Adare Manor in Ireland.
Cink grew up in Florence within the northwest nook of Alabama.
