Tyrone’s Darren Clarke will be happy with his first round at the Boeing Classic at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge as he celebrated his 58th birthday by putting himself at the right side of the leaderboard after 18-holes, sitting T4 at four-under.
Clarke got all of his hard work done on the front nine, beginning his round with a quickfire scramble birdie at the par-5 first. A good result for him considering his ball didn’t see the fairway once. That birdie was cancelled out with a bogey at the par-4 second but that would be Clarke’s last bogey of the day.
Clarke made three more birdies on the front, making light work of the fourth, seventh, and eighth holes to take the turn at three-under.
Clarke’s next red circle wouldn’t come until the last, where he birdied the par-5 18th to post a 68. Clarke will be looking to add to his lone PGA TOUR Champions win this year which came back in June when he defended his title with Ben Crane at the American Family Insurance Championship in Wisconsin.
Fellow Northern Irishman Chris Devlin will be hoping that there is better to come as his first round didn’t go to plan as he finds himself T48 at two-over.
Like Clarke, Devlin made easy work of the par-5 first as he made birdie but Devlin’s momentum began to drop as some errors forced a couple of dropped shots. The 51-year-old bogeyed the fourth before a sore double bogey came at the par-3 ninth thanks to a tricky greenside bunker.
Devlin would go on to make two birdies and two bogeys on the back to post a 74. Devlin has shown he is capable on the Champions TOUR, as he finished T17 at this years U.S. Senior Open back in July.
Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini has continued his recent run of good form as the 50-year-old posted a bogey free seven-under round to lead by two strokes.
Sabbatini has only 11 starts on the PGA TOUR Champions but he has pieced together some very strong performances, most notably at the Kaulig Companies Championship and the American Family Insurance Championship where he finished T3.
Sabbatini also looks to become the fifth first-time winner of the 2026 season on PGA TOUR Champions.
Both Jerry Kelly and Steven Alker sit T2 at five-under. Kelly carded six birdies against a lone bogey. The 2017 champion seeks his second win at the Boeing Classicin his eighth start and his 15th on PGA TOUR Champions after capturing last month’s ISPS HANDA Senior Open.
Alker carded seven birdies against two bogeys. The two-time Charles Schwab Cup champion (2022, 2024) and 2022 Senior PGA Championship winner seeks his 12th win on PGA TOUR Champions, his second victory of the 2026 season and his first at the Boeing Classic.
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