(Photo credit score: Taya Gray/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK by way of Imagn Images)
Stewart Cink birdied his closing gap to tie Germany’s Alex Cejka for the lead after one spherical of the Regions Tradition on Thursday in Birmingham, Ala.
Cink gained the primary main of the PGA Tour Champions season, the Senior PGA Championship, two weeks in the past. Now he is in prime place to contend for the second.
He and Cejka shot 7-under-par 65. They maintain a one-shot benefit over South Korea’s Charlie Wi, Australia’s Scott Hend and New Zealand’s Steven Alker.
‘I used to be excited at how boring as we speak was. Does that make sense?’ Cink mentioned. ‘It wasn’t just like the sort of day the place you are chipping in and holing putts, dramatic stuff occurring in all places.’
Cink, 52, did get off to a fast begin by birdieing the primary three holes of Greystone Golf & Country Club. After selecting up his solely bogey on the par-5 fifth, he bounced again with birdies at Nos. 8, 10, 11 and 13 earlier than two-putting for birdie on the par-5 18th.
‘It’s a scientific approach to method the golf course. I really like this fashion of golf,’ he mentioned. ‘This is considered one of my favourite issues in regards to the puzzle of golf is doing these systematic approaches and sticking to it and letting the outcomes simply kind of occur. We’re staying within the course of a lot that the outcomes are nearly like sneaking up on us.’
Cejka set the clubhouse lead earlier within the day with a bogey-free, seven-birdie spherical. He performed his first 9, the again 9, in 5-under 31.
‘There’s sure programs, they match the gamers’ eyes,’ mentioned Cejka, who gained the Regions Tradition in 2021. ‘I’ve been taking part in right here effectively up to now and as we speak I performed strong. I did not actually make silly errors. I putted effectively after I had birdie possibilities. And if you see the leaderboard, the blokes are going low so you have to — when you’ve got a birdie likelihood, you have to take benefit.’
Wi, Hend and Alker mixed for 18 birdies and nil bogeys throughout their playing cards.
Tied for sixth at 5-under 67 are Dicky Pride, Irishman Padraig Harrington, Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee. Another shot again at 4-under 68: Retief Goosen of South Africa (final week’s winner on the Mitsubishi Electric Classic), Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen, South Korea’s Y.E. Yang, Harrison Frazar and Canada’s Stephen Ames.
Defending champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina opened with an even-par 72.
–Field Level Media