NAPA, Ca. — Stewart Cink won the season-opening Safeway Open at 47 years old Sunday for his seventh PGA TOUR victory and first since the Open Championship in 2009.

Cink closed with a 7-under 65 — rebounding from a bogey on the 17th with a birdie on the 18th — for a two-stroke victory over Harry Higgs.

Cink is the oldest PGA TOUR winner since Phil Mickelson at 48 at Pebble Beach in February 2019. Cink’s last victory came at the expense of then-59-year-old Tom Watson at Turnberry, with Cink winning a four-hole playoff.

Cink did it the old fashioned way Sunday, with a short game that repeatedly put him in great shape on the greens. He one-putted 10 times, scrambled for pars after driving into the sand twice and had eight birdies to finish at 21-under 267.

Higgs shot a 68.

Doc Redman closed with a 62 — matching the lowest round of the tournament — to tie with Brian Stuard (70), Chez Reavie (66) and Kevin Streelman (67) at 18 under.

Stuard, Cameron Percy, and James Hahn entered the day tied for the lead.

Percy (74) was done when he went double bogey, double bogey, bogey over a three-hole stretch on the front nine. Hahn (72) bogeyed three of the first six holes and couldn’t recover. Stuard was 1 over through eight and chased the leaders the rest of the afternoon.

Cink’s bogey on the par-4, 362-yard 17th was only his second of the week and trimmed his lead to one stroke after Higgs eagled the par-5 16th to get to 19 under.

After hitting his second shot on the par-5 18th into the rough behind the green, Cink chipped to 3 feet to set up final birdie, then waited for the final three groups to finish.

Higgs missed a 10-foot birdie putt on 17, then parred 18, a hole where he made an albatross Friday.

Redman, who began the day eight strokes behind the leaders, closed with six consecutive birdies to take a two-stroke lead. The 22-year-old stayed on top for about two hours until Cink’s final push.

“The last few holes are pretty easy and I just got hot,” Redman said. “It happens, so it was awesome.”

THIRD ROUND

NAPA, Ca. — Brian Stuard closed with a scrambling birdie for a 6-under 66 and a share of the Safeway Open lead Saturday with James Hahn and Cameron Percy.

On a day when eight players held or shared the lead, the trio of Stuard, Hahn and Percy emerged in front despite all three running into trouble at various times at Silverado Resort.

Stuard (pictured) began the day five shots off the lead, hit only 10 of 14 fairways off the tee and had six birdies, including three straight on the front nine. He made a 7-foot putt on the par-5 18th after finding the rough.

“If you drive it in the fairway, you’re going to give yourself a bunch of chances and I think that’s the No. 1 key for me,” Stuard said, adding that his putting has been the difference this week. “I didn’t putt well to finish the end of the year and this week I feel like I’m seeing the lines a little better, so it’s nice.”

Hahn hasn’t been as steady on the green and needed 28 putts in the third round, but made birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 for a 67.

“I just put myself out of position on the par 5s, something to work on,” Hahn said. “And it’s kind of a good thing that I’m not quite all there yet and hopefully I can put it all together tomorrow.”

Percy had a 68 to join the group at 16-under 200. He nearly took himself out of the hunt after bogeys on Nos. 11 and 14, but bounced back with birdies on two of the final three holes.

Second-round leader Sam Burns struggled to a 72 that left him tied with Kristoffer Ventura (66) and Harry Higgs (70) at 15 under.

Emiliano Grillo (65), Stewart Cink (65), Doug Ghim (69), D.J. Trahan (70) and Russell Knox (70) were 14 under.

The course continues to bend toward lower scores as temperatures have increased. Even shots coming out of the rough seemed to play differently.

“I think the ground has dried out a lot so the ball’s going farther in the air, but it’s also going farther when it lands, especially off the tees,” said Cink, who at 47 is attempting to become the oldest winner on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson won at Pebble Beach at 48 in 2019. “The rough is dried out, so it’s playing a little bit more unpredictable than it was before when it was still kind of damp. And the greens are still holding.”

Cink, Burns, Ventura, Knox, Higgs, Stuard, Hahn and Percy all took turns in front of the pack. Holding the lead was a different story.

Higgs, who on Friday became the third player in tournament history to make an albatross, briefly took the lead with a birdie on 10 just as Percy bogeyed 11 to drop a stroke back.

But Higgs couldn’t sustain the momentum and bogeyed 13, then parred the final five holes.

“Not my best,” Higgs said. “I had a stretch there, 8, 9 and 10 that I felt really good. Kept hitting good shots and kind of felt like I was going to for sure have the lead today. Fortunate enough, I’ve still got a great chance to win tomorrow.”

Mickelson (70) is well off the pace in his tune-up for next week’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot. At 8 under, Mickelson conceded he may not be ready for the major.

“This is the worst I’ve played in the last three months,” Mickelson said. “And it’s deceptive because I didn’t make a bogey, but I didn’t drive it well, I didn’t chip it well and I didn’t putt well. I turned a 64 into a 70.”

Burns had a rough start for the second consecutive round. The second-round leader bogeyed two of the first three holes, scrambled for par on No. 5 after hitting his drive into the trees then saved par again on the par-3 No. 7 after his tee shot went into the sand. Burns also bogeyed No. 11.

SECOND ROUND

NAPA, Ca. — Sam Burns overcame an early double bogey and used steady iron play and strong putting to take the Safeway Open lead Friday. Harry Higgs was right behind, cutting his deficit in half with his last swing.

Burns made nine birdies in a 7-under 65 to get to 15 under at Silverado Resort, with Higgs two strokes back. Higgs closed with an albatross for a 62, the best round of the day in the PGA TOUR’s season opener.

First-round leader Russell Knox (69), Cameron Percy (68) and D.J. Trahan (65) were 12 under. James Hahn (65) and Doug Ghim (66) were 11 under.

Burns began the day a shot off the lead and started on the back nine. He ran into immediate trouble when his tee shot on the 160-yard, par-3 11th went into the water. After a drop, Burns got onto the green in three and two-putted from 14 feet.

Burns quickly turned that disappointment into motivation. The 24-year-old from Louisiana birdied the next three holes. After making the turn at 3 under for the round, Burns birdied Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 9.

“Woke me up, I guess,” Burns said. “It picked me up, like ‘Hey let’s go.’ Just kind of stuck with it and the golf course opened up for me the rest of the day.”

Burns needed it on a day when Higgs ended his round with a remarkable 2 on the 564-yard, par-5 ninth. Higgs hit 331-yard drive, then holed out from 230 yards with a 4-iron.

“What a wonderful way to end the day and also just really weird,” Higgs said. “Being the last hole, it’s so final. I hope that I can like calm down. My brother and I were joking, I was looking forward to a nap all day long and I might be too jacked up now to actually fall asleep.”

Higgs didn’t see the ball roll into the cup and wasn’t even certain what happened. With no fans and minimal spectators, there was no immediate reaction other than a few people who were standing nearby.

First-round leader Russell Knox (69), Cameron Percy (68) and D.J. Trahan (65) were 12 under. James Hahn (65) and Doug Ghim (66) were 11 under.

Burns began the day a shot off the lead and started on the back nine. He ran into immediate trouble when his tee shot on the 160-yard, par-3 11th went into the water. After a drop, Burns got onto the green in three and two-putted from 14 feet.

Burns quickly turned that disappointment into motivation. The 24-year-old from Louisiana birdied the next three holes. After making the turn at 3 under for the round, Burns birdied Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 9.

“Woke me up, I guess,” Burns said. “It picked me up, like ‘Hey let’s go.’ Just kind of stuck with it and the golf course opened up for me the rest of the day.”

Burns needed it on a day when Higgs ended his round with a remarkable 2 on the 564-yard, par-5 ninth. Higgs hit 331-yard drive, then holed out from 230 yards with a 4-iron.

“What a wonderful way to end the day and also just really weird,” Higgs said. “Being the last hole, it’s so final. I hope that I can like calm down. My brother and I were joking, I was looking forward to a nap all day long and I might be too jacked up now to actually fall asleep.”

Higgs didn’t see the ball roll into the cup and wasn’t even certain what happened. With no fans and minimal spectators, there was no immediate reaction other than a few people who were standing nearby.

FIRST ROUND

NAPA, Ca. — Russell Knox shot a 9-under 63 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Safeway Open, the first event of the new PGA TOUR season.

After missing the FedExCup Playoffs by two spots to close last season, Knox had seven birdies and eagled the 550-yard, par-5 fifth hole.

Sam Burns, Cameron Percy and Bo Hoag were a stroke back. Two-time Safeway Open champ Brendan Steele joined Pat Perez at 65.

Knox is seeking his first victory since 2016 when he captured both the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and Travelers Championship for his only PGA TOUR wins.

Historically a slow starter, the 35-year-old Scot had the first-round lead at Silverado Resort despite more early struggles.

Knox hit his first tee shot of the day into the rough and had to scramble for par. After two-putting on the par-3 second hole, Knox left his approach on No. 3, 41 feet short of the pin, forcing another two-putt.

A birdie on No. 4 got Knox back on track, and the eagle on No. 5 jump-started his rise up the leaderboard.

“I knew this week that par-5 scoring would be big to your ultimate performance,” Knox said. “I hit a beautiful drive on No. 5 and hit a nice little 3-hybrid in there and managed to get it back there kind of close and made a nice putt. Obviously, it was a day where a lot of good things happened and definitely nice to get off to a good start.”

Knox was admittedly disappointed by missing out on the FedExCup Playoffs – he had qualified the previous six years – but used the time off to prepare for the Safeway Open while adjusting to new coach Mark McCann.

“I’ve worked as hard as I ever have the last two weeks before this event, so it’s really nice to see something good happen immediately,” Knox said. “I definitely feel like my game is heading in the right direction.”

Burns made a late charge on the back nine and overcame a bogey on 17 when he his 7-foot putt for par went long. That came one hole after Burns holed out an eagle from the fairway on the par-5 16th. He came back to birdie 18 to get to 8 under.

“My iron play was good, made some good putts,” Burns said. “Unfortunately, kind of a bad bogey on 17 but overall a good day.”

Percy made three consecutive birdies to get into contention at the turn then birdied both of the par 5s on his back nine to stay close.

Steele played bogey-free and made birdies on three of the final five holes to stay close. Steele won this event in 2016 and 2017 but missed the cut here last year.

“I really have a good sense of where you can be aggressive out here, where you need to be conservative, where you can miss it to different pins. I just kind of understood it right away, which is nice,” Steele said.

Kevin Tway, the 2018 Safeway Open champ, was seven shots behind Knox after the first round.

Phil Mickelson, playing a warm-up before next week’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot, shot 71.

“The best way to get ready for Winged Foot is to play well here,” Mickelson said. “These fairways are tighter and more difficult to hit than what we’ll have next week. But the rough is going to be a lot more penalizing next week so it’s a great way to work on driving, work on your golf swing.”

Play began after a lengthy morning fog delay, and some of the late starters were unable to finish the round before dark. The sky in Northern California has been filled with thick smoke from fires for the past two weeks, although the situation Thursday wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been 24 hours prior when heavy ash fell and made breathing conditions difficult.(backslash)

“Yesterday was very uncomfortable,” Steele said. “I hadn’t seen anything like that as far as playing golf in it. I’ve been around too many fires in my time, but yeah, with the ash coming down and just how dark it was. I mean, (noon) there’s lights on the putting green. That’s not a normal occurrence for us. It really affected me yesterday, too. I didn’t feel right all day.”