Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington were hoping for better starts to their final event of the season as the pair sit T19 and T31 respectively at Phoenix Country Club, with their hopes of contending starting to dwindle on the first day.
57-year-old Clarke began well and carded back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth holes and took the turn at two-under. Clarke made bogey at the par-3 15th before making another birdie at the 17th.
It went wrong for Clarke at the last, as the Tyrone native made bogey after a dropped shot from the fairway to post a one-under-par 70.
Sitting sixth in the Order of Merit rankings and hopeful to repeat his triumph of 2022 when he lifted the tournament winner’s trophy is Pádraig Harrington, but he will need a huge performance over the next 54 holes if he is to catch the leaders as Harrington can only be disappointed with his round one result.
Harrington made birdie at the fourth hole but quickly dropped the shot with a three-putt bogey at the par-4 fifth to return to even-par.
Harrington needed birdies and he could not get them in a frustrating round of golf for the 54-year-old. Harrington went on to bogey the 12th and the 16th before a brilliant par save at the last to post a disappointing two-over-par 73.
Leading the pack after a bogey-free seven under first round is USA’s Stewart Cink as the 52-year-old seeks his third win of the season and his fourth win on the PGA Champions Tour.
Cink was reeling back the years and shown his intentions when he closed out with back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 to take the clubhouse lead.
Cink now sits first in the projected Order of Merit rankings and will take the title if things remain.
A six-under-par round sees Jerry Kelly occupy the solo second spot with Tommy Gainey, Jason Caron, Steve Flesch and Steven Alker sharing third place at five-under.
Alker will be hoping to catch the leader, Cink as the Australian leads the official Order of Merit rankings.
Bernhard Langer has got some work to do if he is to continue his streak of winning on the Champions Tour. Langer is without a win this season and if that remains, it would be the first time the German did not win in a Champions Tour season since joining the tour in 2007.
Langer managed to keep this streak alive by winning this event last year.
The Charles Schwab Cup offers $2.1 million in prize money to the top-5 finishers at season’s end. The winner of the season-long Charles Schwab Cup will be awarded $1 million, and the second to fifth place finishers will receive prize money of $500,000, $300,000, $200,000, and $100,000, respectively.
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