Darren Clarke closed out with a six-under 66 to climb into a share of seventh at the PGA Tour Champions season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship, while Stewart Cink cruised to another victory.
Clarke started slowly with a one-under opening round on Thursday, but came roaring up the leaderboard thanks to an eight-under 64 on Friday that moved him inside the top 15.
Seven birdies with just the one dropped shot kept him moving upwards, and he finished alongside Fred Couples at -15.
Cink, who took a share of the lead with Freddie Jacobson, into the final round, birdied four on each side, going bogey-free to a 64 that gave him a three-shot win over Angel Cabrera in solo second at -20, with Retief Goosen in solo third at -18, two shots further back.
“It was probably better than the other two days,” Cink said of his final-round play. “Just never really sniffed any trouble and took advantage of some holes that were going to yield to us. I was really proud of the way I hung in there, stayed in the present and executed my process brilliantly and the ball liked it.”
Cink was recently crowned PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year for 2025 after winning three times, including the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship which was enough to see him finish top of the rankings. But he doesn’t feel that he needed to kickstart 2026 with a win to prove that he was a worthy winner of the accolade.
“Well, I don’t think validation really applies here because a good season like last year kind of validates itself to get voted in, but I wanted to come out here this year and start hot and not work my way into the season,” he said.
“I’m not going to play for almost two months now, so it really meant a lot to come out here and play well. You have to make a lot of birdies, and sometimes the first tournament of the year is not the easiest place to make a lot of birdies, but I was able to this week. Played really solid and I’m very pleased.”
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