It was a dramatic finish to Sunday’s final round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at the top of the leaderboard but both Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke will be disappointed not to be involved in the battle for the lead, as the Irish pair both finished their tournament in T23 on seven-under.
Harrington, who was coming off a 66 on Saturday, began his final round in ideal fashion as the 54-year-old birdied the par-5 first. That would be Harrington’s only birdie of the front nine as the three time major winner parred out until the turn.
Needing a big push on the back nine if he was to climb the leaderboard, it was a disastrous start to the back nine as Harrington made bogey at the 10th hole after a loose tee shot led to a drop penalty, before adding a double bogey at the 11th.
Harrington managed to regroup and make birdie at the par-3 15th, before finishing on a high with a birdie at the last to post and even-par 66.
Harrington was hopeful of a win at Phoenix Country Club and a late push for the Charles Schwab Cup season points title, but the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup Championship winner will have to settle for sixth place in the rankings this season.
Tyrone’s Darren Clarke managed to bounce back from Saturday’s two-over-par round as the 57-year-old pieced together a strong back nine to post a 68.
It wasn’t a great start for Clarke as the 2011 Open Champion made a double bogey at the par-3 second after a wayward tee shot forced a drop penalty. Clarke managed to get one back at the par-4 fifth, making birdie.
Heading into the back nine on one-over for the day, Clarke finally got back to even-par with a birdie at the par-4 12th, before a flurry of birdies at the 14th, 15th and 18th saw Clarke post a three-under-par final round.
An impressive season from Clarke sees him finish 15th in the Charles Schwab Cup points rankings.
At the top of the leaderboard, USA’s Stewart Cink pipped New Zealand’s Steven Alker to both the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and the Charles Schwab Cup season points title, winning by two stroke on 20-under.
Cink posted a final round 67 as Alker posted a 70, which included a bogey at the last.
“It was a good week start to finish and if I had to point to one stretch of golf that I was the most proud of this week it was probably the holes after I had a stretch of nothing good going on on Friday but I finished with three birdies in the last six… that was a big turning point for me,” said Cink.
“I drove it nice all week and the fairway gets pretty small out there when you drive it 300 in the air… but it’s been a good year of progress for me with the driver, I’m a different player than I was at the start of the year,” he added.
This is the 52-year-old’s third win of the season.
Leave a comment