2021 Open Championship: Stewart Cink Looking for Second Title

The 2009 Open Championship will long be remembered as the one that 59-year-old Tom Watson let get away. It’s rarely remembered as the one that Stewart Cink won. Now, in the 2021 Open Championship, Cink is trying to win it again.

In 2009, Watson was looking to become the oldest champion, by far, in major championship history. And it looked like he would do so at Turnberry, where he had previously won the Open in 1977, one of the five times that Watson claimed the Claret Jug.

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Watson trailed by one shot after one round and was tied for the lead through 36 holes. He took the outright lead through three rounds and had the lead on the 72nd hole, needing only a par to win.

But we all know what happened. Watson made bogey and lost to Cink in a four-hole playoff.

To this day, it remains the only major championship victory in Cink’s long career. He now finds himself in contention to win another after a fine round on Thursday.

Cink’s front nine was very quiet. He had eight pars and one birdie, which came on the par-3 sixth hole. It added up to a 1-under par 34 on his outward nine.

On the back side, Cink got it going a bit more.

He birdied the par-4 10th hole. He would par the 11th and 12th holes to remain at 2-under on his round.

Cink would birdie the par-4 13th hole. Then he birdied the par-5 14th hole. He would get to 4-under par at that point.

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He would finish his round with four consecutive pars to shoot a 4-under par 66. He finds himself two shots behind leader Louis Oosthuizen after one round.

Cink has revived his career this season, already winning twice on the PGA Tour. He would love to add a second Open Championship title to the season. And through one round, that remains a possibility.

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