Cink Builds Six-Shot Lead at Phoenix Season Finale

Stewart Cink leads the Charles Schwab Cup Championship by six shots at the halfway point in Phoenix, and the season title is his to lose. Cink followed his opening 8-under 63 with a Friday round that took him to 14 under at Phoenix Country Club, building the largest 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour Champions in 10 years.

Friday didn't start like a runaway. Cink opened with a birdie, gave shots back with consecutive bogeys, and turned in 36 after another bogey at the sixth and a birdie at the ninth. Then the back nine turned into a clinic: he birdied all but three holes coming home and signed for a back-nine 29, a number he said he didn't know he'd shot until someone told him in his post-round interview.

Thursday had set the terms. Cink, the defending champion and the points leader, eagled his first hole and played his first seven holes in 6 under on his way to the 63. Ernie Els opened with a 64 and Steve Allan a 65, with Jerry Kelly, Richard Green and Soren Kjeldsen tied for fourth at 66. Nobody kept pace on Friday, and the field now needs help from the leader as much as from itself.

The tournament within the tournament is down to two names. Cink and Zach Johnson are the only players who can still win the Charles Schwab Cup, and they're now separated by seven shots heading into the weekend. Johnson, who opened with a 69 that left him tied for 20th, has the weekend to close a gap that Cink keeps widening. The season champion collects a $1 million bonus.

Cink won this championship last year and has five victories this season, including two majors, in what has become the strongest year of his senior career. He said Friday that a six-shot lead isn't a reason to protect anything, and he plans to stay aggressive over the weekend. The last two rounds at Phoenix Country Club will test that: the course gave up his 63 on Thursday and his 29 on Friday, and it can give the chasers the same thing if he stalls.

Leading early is a habit for him at this event. Thursday's 63 gave Cink the first-round lead at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship for the third straight year, and this time he didn't hand it back on Friday. The 36-hole lead is the biggest the senior circuit has seen in a decade, and it was built in two different ways: a front-running 63, then a recovery round that turned into a rout on the back nine.

The weekend math is stark. Johnson has to win the tournament and needs Cink to come back to the field to take the Cup; anything less, and Cink closes the season the way he started this week, in first place. Cink has spent two days making that look like the only realistic outcome, and he has 36 holes left to finish it.