PHOENIX — Two down, two to go, a second lucky break and a new No. 1.
Stewart Cink shot a 5-under 66 to maintain his three-shot lead on the 35-man field in the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship. For the second day in a row, he avoided disaster on the par-5 18th hole.
On Thursday, a shot out of a bunker hit the flagstick dead on and stopped two feet away, setting up a closing birdie. On Friday, his second shot was well short of the green, hitting the bank that slopes down towards a lake. But his ball managed to stay hung up in the rough and not get wet. He then chipped on and two-putted for par.
“It was just a little bit of a lazy swing there on 18. This is going to happen, but obviously it was a little further right than I meant for it to be, but we had plenty of distance to make sure we had kind of a wide space to give ourselves a little forgiveness there,” Cink said. “That bank actually does have some grass over there on 18. When you get back in towards the middle of the green, there’s no grass. So that part of the hole will hold a golf ball. Still, very glad it stayed up.”
Cink avoided bogey on Friday and has just one over 36 holes. He’s seeking his second PGA Tour Champions victory in 2024.
67-year-old Langer shoots 64
Bernhard Langer had the round of the day, a 7-under 64. It’s his best round in this event and it’s three shots better than his age. It’s also the 21st time the ageless wonder has shot his age or better.
“Every once in a while I look back at my career and have to almost pinch myself and say, man, that’s pretty amazing what you’ve done the last whatever, so many years,” he said. “Like a day today, to shoot 64, 3 under my age, not a whole lot of people can do that.”
On the par-4 17th, Langer drained a long putt of about 25 feet for his eighth birdie of the day. He said a slight putter alignment adjustment is paying dividends.
“I moved the ball a little bit further away from me. Started to look better, ball was rolling online and so far, so good. It’s worked two days in a row,” he said.
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Langer had plans to make the 2024 Masters his final trip down Magnolia Lane, but a ruptured Achilles in February scuttled that. He later said 2025 would be his last time competing at Augusta National and he confirmed that again Friday.
Bernhard Langer takes a club from his bag on the ninth hole during the second round of the 2024 Charles Schwab…
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