- April 19, 2026
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The cellphone buzzed with a text notification on the evening of April 18. Stewart Cink had received a message from his youngest son, Reagan Cink.
He knew his father was gearing up for the next day's final round of the Senior PGA Championship. As a former caddie for the golfer, he's no stranger to the game himself.
So he sent along a simple game plan.
"Keep on bludgeoning," Cink's message read. "The course will yield."
He advised his father to stick with his guns — not to make drastic changes to his approach despite carding 70 in the third round, his highest score of the tournament.
Stewart Cink proceeded to bludgeon the course at The Concession Golf Club like no competitive golfer before him has.
His final-round 63 was more than enough to secure the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy — all 36 pounds of it — on April 19, the reward for winning the 86th Senior PGA Championship. In doing so, he set a new competitive course record at The Concession.
Cink finished at 19-under par for the tournament with a commanding six-stroke margin of victory over Ben Crane. He carded no bogeys through his final 18 holes with seven birdies, and earned eagle on the 547-yard, par-5 seventh hole.
"I was patient and present, really, this week. A lot of good shots," Cink said. "Not all great shots, but managed myself really well. Today was just one of the best rounds I've played as a professional golfer."
After six previous wins on the PGA Tour Champions, he now has his maiden senior major title. He entered this week having won three of his last five individual tournaments.
The winner of The Open Championship in 2009 is also the reigning player of the year on the senior circuit, and closed last season by claiming the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Cink, though, wasn't a wire-to-wire leader at the Senior PGA Championship. He didn't sit atop the field by the end of any of the first three rounds, either.
Entering April 19, he trailed Keith Horne by one stroke and was in a four-way tie with Thammanoon Sriroj, Scott Hend and Steve Allan for second place. He was even through the first three holes Sunday and 1-under par through the first six.
But Cink soon caught fire. He attributed that to one moment on the fifth hole, which ranks as the second-hardest at The Concession behind the 424-yard, par-4 15th hole.
After missing a would-be-birdie putt, he was left with a seven-foot putt for par, and decided to add some break and play the ball outside the hole.
"I just made one of the most committed, peaceful and accepting strokes, and the ball just gutted the hole," Cink said. "After that putt, I felt like I was never going to miss another putt the rest of my life."
Cink took to the practice green April 18 after his third round, having noticed that his missed putts were consistently low. He was under-reading some of the break.
So he tweaked his approach in the short game, deciding to play more break for his final round. It resulted in what he called "one of my best putting days of the year."
But he made more than just putts to secure a major title on the PGA Tour Champions.
Hole after hole Sunday, he made timely shots to earn and build his lead.
Cink tallied five birdies from holes eight through 14 following his eagle on the seventh. That scorching run allowed him to separate from Hend and Crane for good.
It also made for a drama-free 18th hole. He didn't make birdie on the 466-yard par-4, but par was plenty enough.
He could've carded a bogey, double-bogey or even quintuple-bogey, and the outcome wouldn't have been any different.Â
"It's a grueling golf course to compete over four days," Cink said. "You don't have to veer very far off to find trouble. It's tiring, but in the end, rewarding."
He turned a third-round 70 into a fourth-round 63. No competitor in the Senior PGA Championship could match that effort.
Cink was challenged, but with a little push from his youngest son, kept on bludgeoning.
"Reagan is just really tuned into golf and what's going on out here," Cink said. "When he said that, it just gave me the confidence to know that I don't need to change a lot."
The course at The Concession yielded, indeed, like Reagan Cink predicted.
It yielded Stewart Cink's first senior major title — in record-setting fashion.
