HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC – Stewart Cink shot a steady 70 without stress to end a dominant and record week that resulted in his third RBC Heritage title on Sunday.
Cink, 47, finished between 19 and 265 in Harbor Town, 4 shots better than Emiliano Grillo and Harold Varner III. Grillo shot a 68, while Varner, who reached the highest level of his career, shot a 66.
Cink hugged his son and caddy, Reagan, after his final partner on green 18. Cink, his wife, Lisa, and his other son, Connor, had all their arms around him to celebrate.
“I don’t even know if I have the words,” Cink said.
He won for the second time this season (only he and Bryson DeChambeau have done so) and continued his resurgence on the PGA Tour at a time when many professionals his age are waiting for the PGA Tour Champions.
No Cink, who broke a 12-year streak without a win at the Safeway Open in September and added five rankings in the top 20, including a tie for 12th last week in the Masters.
He earned $ 1.278 billion, almost as much as the $ 1.404 billion for his two previous victories at Harbor Town combined.
Cink is also the fourth player to win twice in the same season of the PGA Tour after turning 47 years old. Sam Snead, Julius Boros and Kenny Perry, who got it twice, are the others.
Cink put on a show for the ages, destroying the lowest 36-hole score in Harbor Town, 13 to 129, shared by Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson. Cink also broke the 54-hole mark of 16 under 197 that Justin Leonard had in his 2002 victory.
Cink took a 5-shot lead in the final round and dared with all the pursuers to look for him. No one ran to Cink, who led at least 3 shots.
PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa, along with Cink, opened with a birdie. But the second- and fourth-hole bogeys pulled Morikawa out of the mix.
Maverick McNealy had five birdies in the front nine to go up 14 under, 4 behind Cink, in the middle of the round. Consecutive bogeyes on the 11th and 12th ended McNealy’s rise.
Grillo and Varner approached the age of 15 and were only 3 behind until the final bird of Cink in the par-3 17th, which made him sure he would add another plaid jacket to which he went win here in 2000 and 2004.
Cink made 17 little birds and two eagles in the first three rounds. He had only two birdies on Sunday, but that was more than enough to secure his eighth professional victory.
McNealy (67), Canadian Corey Conners (68) and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick (68) tied for fourth place at 13 below. Morikawa fell to seventh place after a 72, tied with Chris Kirk (67) at 12 below.
The best ranked, Dustin Johnson, closed with his best round of the tournament at age 66 to finish tied for 13th place with 10 below. Johnson was the November Masters champion, but lost the cut there last week and was never in contention at Harbor Town.
“I feel like I’ve made too many mistakes,” he said. “That’s where you make mistakes, they penalize you a lot.”