Stewart Cink has finally added the senior major to his résumé. The 52-year-old former Open Championship winner closed out the 2026 Senior PGA Championship with a course-record 63 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida — a six-shot runaway that delivered his first senior major and one of the most dominant final rounds in the championship’s 88-year history.
Cink’s four-day total of 269 (69-67-70-63) finished at 19-under par — a single stroke shy of Sam Snead’s all-time Senior PGA scoring record relative to par, set in 1973. It is also Cink’s seventh PGA Tour Champions title and his first major in any flavour since the 2009 Open at Turnberry.
How The Final Round Unfolded
Cink began the day one shot back of overnight leader Keith Horne, but the deficit didn’t survive the front nine. An eagle on the par-5 7th moved Cink to 11-under, and back-to-back birdies on 8 and 9 vaulted him to 13-under and a two-shot lead at the turn. Three more birdies on 11, 12 and 14 stretched the lead to five, and a steady inward stretch closed out the trophy without drama.
Ben Crane finished alone in second at 13-under after a closing 67, with Padraig Harrington a further shot back in third. Horne, the 54-hole leader, fell to a tied fourth after a final-round 73.
Why The 63 Stands Out
The Concession is a Jack Nicklaus design named in honour of the famous 1969 Ryder Cup concession, and it is not a course that gives up low scores. Tight strategic bunkering, water on more than half the holes, and a wind that swung from a soft southerly to a stiffer cross-wind on Sunday have historically pushed the cut line near level par. Cink’s 63 — nine birdies, no bogeys — is the lowest round in the championship’s 88-year history at any venue.
The closest historical comp is Snead’s 1973 Senior PGA at Aronimink, where his 268 total finished 20-under and stood as the par-relative record for half a century. Cink finished one shot shy. He also collects a lifetime exemption into the Senior PGA and — more interestingly — a spot in next month’s 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink, the same Donald Ross course where Snead’s 268 was set.
What This Means For Cink’s Year
The win caps a remarkable rebuild. After a quiet stretch in his early 50s that had some pundits writing him off as a Champions Tour also-ran, Cink put together back-to-back wins in the 2026 spring including the Hoag Classic earlier this year. The Senior PGA result moves him to the top of the Charles Schwab Cup standings and puts him in pole position for the season-long money race.
It also reframes his Aronimink invitation. Senior PGA winners traditionally use their PGA Championship spot as a victory lap. Cink — who shot a 63 the last time anyone saw him swing a club — is unlikely to treat it that way.
What Amateurs Can Steal From Cink’s Sunday
The 63 wasn’t a freak run of putts that fell. The shot-by-shot data tells a tighter, more replicable story:
- 13 of 14 fairways hit. The Concession’s bunkering punishes anything not in play, and Cink simply removed the variable. Driving accuracy is the first metric to clean up if you want to score lower at any course with strategic fairway hazards.
- Approach play that targeted hole-high or short. Cink consistently aimed at the front edge of the green and let his ball roll out. On firm Florida greens, leaving yourself uphill is the difference between a 4-foot birdie and a knee-knocker for par.
- Lag putting from outside 25 feet. Cink three-putted zero times. None of his nine birdies came from outside 18 feet — he was simply executing the routine, repeatedly, over short and medium birdie putts.
If you want to translate that into your own game, our guides on a repeatable pre-shot routine and course management thinking are the practical first stops. None of what Cink did on Sunday was outside the reach of a committed amateur — what was rare was the calm, decision-by-decision discipline behind it.
The Wider Picture For The Senior Game
The PGA Tour Champions has, for the first time in years, a fight at the top of the standings between a younger group of recent retirees — Cink, Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els — and the established veterans like Steve Stricker and Bernhard Langer. Cink’s Senior PGA gives the younger contingent its biggest 2026 trophy and tilts the season’s narrative toward what could be a Cink-Stricker Charles Schwab Cup down the stretch.
Next up: the Regions Tradition at Greystone, the second of the five Champions majors. Cink’s calendar suddenly looks very busy.
Key Takeaways
- Stewart Cink won the 2026 Senior PGA Championship at The Concession by six shots over Ben Crane.
- His final-round 63 is a course record and the lowest round in the championship’s 88-year history.
- His 19-under total finished one shot shy of Sam Snead’s all-time par-relative scoring record from 1973.
- The win is Cink’s first senior major and his seventh Champions Tour title.
- He earns a lifetime Senior PGA exemption and a place in next month’s PGA Championship at Aronimink.
- The result moves Cink to the top of the 2026 Charles Schwab Cup standings.
