Stewart Cink maintains Charles Schwab Cup Championship lead while Bernhard Langer, 67, shoots 64

PHOENIX (AP) — Stewart Cink shot a 5-under 66 on Friday to maintain a three-stroke lead in the PGA TOUR Champions' season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Bernhard Langer, the 67-year-old German star who has a Champions-record 46 career victories, was second after a 64. He shot his age or better for the 21st time on the tour.

“Every once in a while I look back at my career and have to almost pinch myself and say, 'Man, that’s pretty amazing what you’ve done the last whatever so many years,'" Langer said. "Like a day today, to shoot 64 — 3 under my age — not a whole lot of people can do that.”

The 51-year-old Cink had a 12-under 130 total at Phoenix Country Club, shooting a 64 of his own in the first round. The Ally Challenge winner in August in Michigan for his first senior title, Cink entered the week 12th in the season standings.

“It was actually probably a cleaner round than yesterday as far as just my processes and the quality of the shots was probably a little bit better overall.” Cink said. “I just didn’t have the hot long putts going in today quite as much, but it was a really solid round. I would love to play golf like that every day.”

Langer birdied five of the first seven holes and closed strong with birdies on 17 and 18. He's trying to win at least one event for the 18th consecutive year.

“It’s fun to make some putts, that’s what the game is all about,” Langer said. “If you want to score low, you’ve got to make some putts.”

Alex Cejka was third at 7-under after a 66.

Defending champion Steven Alker, second behind Ernie Els in the season standings, was tied for fourth at 4-under after a 68 — putting himself in position to pass Els for the $1 million bonus.

Vijay Singh (65), Miguel Angel Jimenez (68), Jerry Kelly (70) and Cameron Percy (68) also were 4-under.

Els was 3-under after a 70.

Stephen Ames, third in the standings, was 2-under after a 72.

The top 36 players on the points list qualified for the event, with Steve Stricker the lone qualifier not in the field. He has never played a postseason tournament on Champions Tour.

Things to know

• In his bid to become the first player to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in his first start since Padraig Harrington in 2022, Stewart Cink followed an opening-round 7-under 64 with a 66 to open up a three-stroke lead at 12-under 130.
• After a 70-68 start to reach T4 at 4-under 138, defending champion Steven Alker is projected No. 1 in the race for the Charles Schwab Cup; he first won the season-long title in 2022.

Stewart Cink – 64-66 (-12)

Charles Schwab Cup standings – Start: 12th / Projected: third

• Seeking his second win of the season and first since The Ally Challenge, he followed an opening-round 7-under 64 in round one with a 5-under 66 to step out to a 3-stroke lead at 12-under 130 in his Charles Schwab Cup Championship debut.
• Depending on how he and several others fare in the final two rounds, he can reach as high as second in the season-long race for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
• In 72-hole events on PGA TOUR Champions, his previous-best 36-hole position of solo-second at the 2023 Kaulig Companies Championship resulted in a T7 finish.
• His 5-under 66 in round two marks his 18th consecutive sub-par score on PGA TOUR Champions this season.
• Making his 15th start on PGA TOUR Champions, the 51-year-old seeks a second win and first since the 2024 Ally Challenge in August.
• Making his 11th start of this season on PGA TOUR Champions, he comes off top-five finishes in four of his most recent five starts.

Additional Notes

• With birdies on five of his first seven holes, World Golf Hall of Fame member and six-time Charles Schwab Cup champion Bernhard Langer (second/-9) signed for a 7-under 64, marking the 21st time the 67-year-old has shot his age or better in competition; in 15 previous Charles Schwab Cup Championship starts, he has amassed 10 top10s, highlighted by runner-up finishes in 2013, 2015 and 2016; he seeks an eighth top 10 this season in his 16th start.
• Seeking a sixth top-10 finish of the season and first since solo-second honors at the PURE Insurance Championship in September, Alex Cejka offset one bogey with six birdies to card a 5-under 66 and reach solo-third at 7-under 135; in two previous Charles Schwab Cup Championship starts, the 53-year-old finished solo-second in 2022 and T8 in 2023.
• Making his fifth start in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, 61-year-old World Golf Hall of Fame member Vijay Singh followed a 2-over 73 in Round 1 with a bogey-free 6-under 65 in Friday’s second round; at 4-under 138, the 2018 champion of the event will head into the weekend T4 and eight strokes off the lead; his most recent of six top-10 finishes this season (21 starts) came at the Simmons Bank Championship (T7) two weeks ago in his most recent start on PGA TOUR Champions.
• Defending champion Steven Alker began his round with 11 straight pars, before carding three birdies en route to a bogey-free 3-under 68 and sits T4 at 4-under 138; the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup champion entered this week No. 2 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings and is currently projected at No. 1.
• In his bid to remain at the No. 1 spot and win the Charles Schwab Cup, Ernie Els will begin round three T9 at 3-under 139. Through 36 holes, he is projected No. 2 in the standings.

Race for the Charles Schwab Cup

The Charles Schwab Cup offers $2.1 million in prize money to the top-5 finishers at season’s end. The prize money will be distributed in lump sum deposits into a Schwab brokerage account to be invested into a Schwab Managed Portfolio (SMP), if eligible. The winner of the season-long Charles Schwab Cup will be awarded $1 million and the second- through fifth-place finishers will receive prize money of $500,000, $300,000, $200,000, and $100,000, respectively.

Projected Charles Schwab Cup Standings after Round 2