Stewart Cink takes opening lead at Cologuard Classic; Padraig Harrington returns as Hall of Famer

Nine birdies and a bogey-less round on Friday has positioned Stewart Cink at the top of the leaderboard at the Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences at La Paloma Country Club.

In his first-ever Cologuard Classic, the 50-year-old Cink, who also has PGA Tour status, shot a 9-under par (61) in La Paloma’s debut hosting the annual Tucson event. That included back-to-back birdies four times.

Cink’s 9 under marks the lowest round on the PGA Tour Champions circuit this season — and the lowest opening round since Steve Stricker and K.J. Choi at The Sanford Invitational in September.

“It’s always good to start off with a good round, and today was a really good round,” Cink said. “I didn’t feel like it was like exceptional, like a hot outlier, so that’s good for confidence, too. I just had a good feel for the distance control out there.

“It’s not easy, this golf course is very target-oriented and you need to be hitting the ball the right distance off the tee and into the approaches. There’s a little bit of altitude and a little bit of breeze and it’s hot and it’s cold, so it’s a good course to flush it, and when you flush it, a lot of that stuff takes care of itself. I hit a lot of good shots in the middle of the face today.”

Cink said Friday’s round wasn’t a “hot outlier” because “it’s not like I chipped in from all over the place and holed 30-footers.”

“I just hit a lot of solid shots. I made a few and I left a few out there, too, to be honest,” he added. “It could have been a really special round today. I’m actually gaining a lot of confidence from that ... because it wasn’t like a crazy like outlier type round. It was just a solid round. Our game plan like produced a good score today. When you put a good game plan together with pretty good mechanics and some confidence, then, I mean, not many golf courses can hold up to it as good as these golfers are.”

The cold and rainy weather conditions leading up to the Cologuard Classic altered Cink’s approach off the tee box — “five yards per hole, pretty simple math,” Cink said.

“We just decided to push the ball a little further up the golf holes in the air because we weren’t going to get that much roll,” he said. “It was pretty basic. But the golf course is in great shape, it drains well. Obviously this is a desert for a reason and when it rains, the water does soak in. It’s really nice out.”

David Toms, the 2023 Cologuard Classic winner, ended the opening round tied for sixth after shooting 4 under (67). The 2022 Cologuard Classic champion Miguel Angel Jimenez is tied for second following a 7 under round.

Jimenez was tied for the lead with Cink until he bogeyed the 16th hole, a par 5. He’s tied with Cameron Beckman for second. Paul Goydos was in the lead for most of his opening round until he triple-bogeyed the 16th hole and is now tied for 14th.

Harrington returns to Tucson as Hall of Famer

The last time Padraig Harrington played in a tournament in Tucson just over a decade ago, he competed in WGC-Accenture Match Play at as the No. 12-ranked golfer in the world and one of the top players from Ireland on the PGA Tour.

Now back in the Old Pueblo to compete in his first Cologuard Classic — and first tournament in Tucson as a PGA Tour Champions player, Harrington returns as one of seven members of the World Golf Hall of Fame to compete in the 78-player field.

Exactly a year ago on Friday, Harrington was announced as an inductee for the 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame class, along with Tom Weiskopf, Sandra Palmer, Beverly Hanson, Johnny Farrell and the seven remaining co-founders of LPGA Tour: Alice Bauer, Bettye Danoff, Helen Detweiler, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Shirley Spork and Sally Sessions.

The official World Golf Hall of Fame ceremony will take place this June at Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina, preceding the U.S. Open. Harrington, a Dublin native who is also cousins with former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington, said the World Golf Hall of Fame nod “is an interesting one because when you grow up in Ireland, we didn’t have hall of fames.”

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“Wouldn’t have known anything about them. Once you get out on (PGA) Tour, you hear more about it and you see it more as something you want to be because your peers are there,” Harrington said. “’I want to be there, I want to be a Hall of Fame player.’

“Certainly as I got older as a Tour player, that has been very much a goal of mine, very much on my radar. It’s going to be really nice.”

Harrington, who shot 1 under (70) in his opening round at Cologuard Classic on Friday, won three major championships, including back-to-back Open Championships in 2007 and ‘08, joining Tiger Woods and Ernie Els as multi-time winners at the Open in the modern era. Harrington was the first Irishman to win The Open in 60 years.

In 2008, Harrington also won the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan and was the first player since Mark O’Meara in 1998 to win back-to-back major championships. The 52-year-old Harrington officially joined PGA Tour Champions in 2022 and won the U.S. Senior Open for his first senior major. Harrington was named PGA Tour Champions Rookie of the Year.

In addition to having at least two major victories, Harrington’s 26 tournament wins on PGA Tour (six), European Tour (15), Japan Golf Tour (one) and Asian Tour (four) met the requirements to induct him into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Now a Hall of Famer and mainstay on PGA Tour Champions, Harrington, who has learned to have pride in achieving an accomplishment only a handful of golfers reach.

“As you get older, you appreciate the accolades a lot more,” Harrington said. “I think when you’re a young guy and you’re winning, you think you’re going to keep winning all the time, you just keep going.

“As you get a little older, you realize to stop and enjoy the moment.”

Chip shots

Former Arizona Wildcat Ted Purdy shot 4 over (75) in the opening round on Friday. Purdy is tied for 71st.

Steven Alker, the current Charles Schwab Cup leader, shot a 2 under (69) and is tied for 23rd.

Cologuard Classic brand ambassador and tournament host Jerry Kelly posted a 4 under round and is tied for sixth place.