It took a ferocious finish and 55 holes to do it, but Stewart Cink came away with his second straight victory at the Ally Challenge on Sunday in Grand Blanc, Mich.
Cink shot a 4-under-par 68 to finish level with South Africa’s Ernie Els, who entered the day as the leader. On the first playoff hole at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club, Cink reached the green in regulation on the par-4 18th and two-putted for par while Els missed the green with his second shot and couldn’t convert his par putt.
“A win happening in this fashion, I’m not sure if it adds or subtracts years off your life because it’s pretty stressful, but if you’re the one that wins, if you’re on that side of the stick on this thing, then it feels great,” Cink said. “It was a lot of fun. I mean, putted great down the stretch. Ernie wasn’t doing anything wrong and he was just in the wrong place today because I had just enough at the end to overtake him.”
Els, who was in the final group with Cink, held a two-stroke lead through 12 holes, with Cink just 1 under on the day thanks to three birdies and two bogeys. However, Cink surged to the finish line, making birdies on four of his final six holes to erase the deficit and finish at 15-under-par 201.
“I really played very well on the back nine today, I really did,” Cink said. “I don’t know how many birdies I made but it was a lot of birdies on the back.”
It was a full-circle event for Cink, who similarly started the week hot and was the solo leader after Round 1 at 10 under before shooting 1 under on Saturday with four birdies and three bogeys.
“It’s really the ebbs and flows of golf,” Cink said. “It was all kind of encapsulated in three days, and especially the last two days.”
The win was Cink’s second of the season and third in 29 career Champions Tour events. Both Cink’s 2025 wins have come in playoffs, as he beat Retief Goosen of South Africa in a one-hole playoff to win the Insperity Invitational back in May.
Els shot a bogey-free, 3-under 69 in the final round after entering the day with a one-stroke lead.
With this week’s victory, Cink remains second in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. He marginally extended his advantage over New Zealand’s Steven Alker in third place. Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez remains comfortably atop the Charles Schwab Cup leaderboard despite not participating in this week’s event.
Alker surged up the leaderboard by shooting 7-under 65 on Sunday — tied for the best round of the day — to finish in a three-way tie for third with Australia’s Cameron Percy and Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark at 12 under.
–Field Level Media
