PHOENIX — Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson are the only ones who can win the season title on the PGA Tour Champions but Cink insists his competition is the entire 36-man field at the 2026 Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
"It's not match play," Cink said Wednesday. "It's stroke play, and there's a lot going on out there on the golf course to keep us very busy and alert. So I'm just going to take it shot by shot and try to be as good as I can."
After 18 holes, it's so-far-so-good for Cink, who eagled the first and was 6 under through seven holes before cooling off a tad with eight straight pars. He added another birdie at No. 16 to tie Ernie Els, who briefly held the lead at 7 under. Cink then made par 17 and got up-and-down from the greenside rough on
18 for one last birdie to get to 8 under and lead by a shot.
Cink credited that hot start, as well as catching a few breaks, for his solid opening round.
"I got a perfect read on Zach's putts on the first two holes, he was putting right on my line, I got to see the ball roll in," Cink said. "Things don't always turn that way in your favor."
He also avoided the water on 18 after his second shot into the par-5 finisher got caught up in the rough.
"Got bailed out by some rough there and left myself actually in a very easy place to get up-and-down, so those are the kinds of breaks that you can't count on happening every day but when they do, you have to take advantage of them," Cink said.
As for Johnson, he was 5 under through seven holes at Phoenix Country Club before making bogey on two of his next four holes. Like Cink, he then strung together a bunch of pars ― seven to be exact ― to post 2-under 69.
Johnson has the most wins on the Champions tour this season with six, but he has to ground to make up if he's going to claim win No. 7. He's tied for 20th and sits six shots back.
Charles Schwab Cup standings after 18 holes in Phoenix
Despite Johnson's sluggish Round 1, he can't finish worse than second in the season-long standings. The top 5 finishers in points earn bonus money, so there's going to be some battling for spots 3, 4 and 5 between now and Sunday evening.
- Stewart Cink (1)
- Zach Johnson (2)
- Steven Alker (3)
- Ernie Els (8)
- Padraig Harrington (4)
Todd Kelly is Golfweek's assistant managing editor.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Who's up, who's down after 18 holes at the 2026 Charles Schwab Cup Championship
