Major champion achieves incredibly rare milestone at Valspar

Stewart Cink‘s 36-hole co-lead this week at the Valspar Championship isn’t simply unlikely, it’s historic.

With Cink’s opening rounds of 69-67, he not solely grabbed the seventh profession 36-hole lead or co-lead, however he additionally made the reduce for the five hundredth time in his PGA Tour profession.

That’s an accomplishment solely seven different males in Tour historical past have earned. Jay Haas has the document with 592 cuts made, however legends like Jack Nicklaus (495) and Gary Player (384) haven’t achieved the feat. Tiger Woods, who as soon as made a PGA Tour document 142 cuts in a row, solely has 338 made cuts in his profession.

Despite being simply two-and-a-half years youthful than Cink, Woods hasn’t even performed near 500 occasions in his profession. This week is Cink’s 677th profession begin.

But Cink hasn’t simply made the reduce this week at Innisbrook. The 50-year-old additionally has the possibility to turn out to be the ninth senior to win on the PGA Tour and will turn out to be the seventh-oldest winner in Tour historical past. The final participant over 50 to win on the PGA Tour was Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship.

The 2009 Open Championship winner didn’t even anticipate passing the 500-cut mark this week at Innisbrook.

“I didn’t know about that until somebody told me a little while ago, but I guess milestone would be, you know, appropriate language to use,” Cink stated after his spherical Friday. “I’ve been playing out here a long time and I’ve had some ups and downs, but a lot of ups. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself. To make 500 cuts, I think that’s pretty respectable, I guess. I know a lot of players are celebratory when they reach 500 events. So to be able to put that number on your cuts made, I’m proud of that.”

Cink final gained on the PGA Tour 2021 when he acquired his second victory of that season at the RBC Heritage. That was additionally the final time he held the 36-hole lead in a match.

He began the third spherical at Innisbrook as a part of the five-way tie for the lead at six underneath. After seven holes within the third spherical, he was two underneath for the day and solely shared the lead with Chandler Phillips at eight underneath.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, incomes levels in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his highschool golf workforce and lately returned to this system to function head coach. Jack additionally nonetheless *tries* to stay aggressive in native amateurs. Before becoming a member of GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but additionally producing, anchoring and even presenting the climate. He may be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.