RBC Heritage title tops off Cink’s record-setting week
Stewart Cink shot a steady, stressfree 70 to cap off a dominant, recordbreaking week and win his third RBC Heritage title on Sunday.
The 47-year-old Cink finished at 19-under 265 at Harbour Town at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, four better than Emiliano Grillo and Harold Varner III. Grillo shot a 68 while Varner, who had the highest finish of his career, fired a 66.
Cink hugged his son and caddie, Reagan, after his closing par on the 18th green. He, wife Lisa and their other son, Connor, all had their arms around each other to celebrate.
“I don’t even know if I have the words,” Stewart Cink said.
He won for the second time this season — only he and Bryson DeChambeau have done that — and continued his resurgence on the PGA Tour at a time when many pros his age are looking ahead to the PGA Tour Champions.
Not Cink, who broke a 12-year winless streak at the Safeway Open in September and added five more top20 finishes, including a tie for 12th last week at the Masters.
Cink put on show for the ages — shattering the lowest 36-hole score at Harbour Town of 13-under 129 shared by Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson. Cink also broke the 54hole scoring mark of 16-under 197 that Justin Leonard had in his 2002 win.
PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa, paired with Cink, opened with a birdie. But bogeys on the second and fourth holes took the Cal product out of the mix.
Maverick McNealy has five birdies on the front nine to climb to 14-under, four back of Cink, in the middle of the round. The Stanford product (67), Corey Conners (68) and Matt Fitzpatrick (68) tied for fourth at 13-under. Morikawa slipped to seventh after a 72, tied with Chris Kirk (67) at 12-under.
• Steve Stricker closed with a 5-under 67 to earn a one-shot victory in the Chubb Classic. The U.S. Ryder Cup captain won for the sixth time
on the PGA Tour Champions, his first title since the U.S. Senior Open in the summer of 2019.
Motorsports
PALOU WINS INDYCAR OPENER >> Alex Palou celebrated his move to Chip Ganassi Racing with his first career IndyCar victory by beating a pair of series champions to win Sunday’s season-opening race at Barber Motorsports Park.
The Spaniard used a two-stop strategy on the picturesque permanent road course to take control of the race but still had to hold off hardcharging Will Power and Scott Dixon over the closing laps. The 24-year-old beat Power by .4016 seconds to claim his first win in his first race driving for the storied Ganassi organization.
Dixon, the six-time and reigning IndyCar champion, finished third and was followed by pole-sitter Pato O’Ward, who was on a three-stop strategy.
Palou was the quieter offseason signing of the Ganassi organization, which also added seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson to the four-car lineup. Johnson, who at 45 is older than Palou’s father, is learning every session and taking small gains. He celebrated not qualifying last on Saturday and was satisfied with his 19th-place finish Sunday.
“Just a ton of learning experiences throughout the day,” Johnson said. “I just can’t say too many times how different this is and how specialized this craft is.”
BOWMAN EDGES HAMLIN AT RICHMOND >> Alex Bowman took the lead from Denny Hamlin with 10 laps to go, put a bit of space between them and went on to win the Toyota Owners 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.
The victory was the first of the season for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, his first ever at Richmond and the third of his Cup career.
His margin of victory over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin was .381 seconds. Hamlin had dominated the race, leading 207 of 400 laps at the .75-mile oval. He finished second.
Joey Logano of Team Penske finished third. Fourth was Christopher Bell of the Gibbs team.
Soccer TOP CLUBS ANNOUNCE SPLIT FROM CHAMPIONS LEAGUE >>
A group of 12 elite clubs dramatically split European soccer on Sunday by announcing plans to walk away from the Champions League to create a breakaway midweek competition, called the Super League, despite the threat of legal action from UEFA.
Clubs involved in the move to quit the existing structures — in an apparent grab for more money and power — include Real Madrid, Barcelona and the American-owned Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. The other teams are Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City and Tottenham. The Super League organizers hope for three more teams to join.
Tennis FEDERER RETURNING TO FRENCH OPEN >>
Roger Federer announced he will play at the French Open, and the Swiss star is preparing for it on home clay at a tournament in Geneva next month. The Geneva Open is May 1622 — shortly before Roland Garros begins in Paris on May 30. He did not play there last year.