After two rounds of 8-under-par 63 in the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, SC, Stewart Cink entered the weekend with a five-shot lead over Corey Conners and was never really challenged on his way to a four-shot victory over Harold Varner III and Emiliano Grillo. It was the 47-year-old’s eighth career title, and he picked up $1,278,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points for the win.
The Georgia Tech graduate won his second tournament of the 2021 season, adding his third RBC Heritage title to the Safeway Open he captured in September. With the win, Cink now has $41,378,356 in official PGA Tour earnings over his 24-year career.
A compelling storyline of the tournament was watching Cink’s son, Reagan, on the veteran’s bag. Twenty-four-year-old Reagan took over the caddying responsibilities for his father at the Safeway Open and now has been part of a resurgence for his father, whose last win prior to this season had been the 2009 Open Championship.
With the win, Cink jumped to third in FedEx Cup points and has to be on Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker’s radar, who will have six captain’s picks to make for September’s matches against the European side at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisc. Cink has been a member of five Ryder and four Presidents Cup teams from 2000-2010 and could add some experience to the team.
Cink recorded scores of 63, 63, 69 and 70 on the par-71 Harbour Town Golf Links to finish with a 19-under-par score of 265.
Cink recorded scores of 63, 63, 69 and 70 on the par-71 Harbour Town Golf Links to finish with a 19-under-par score of 265. His lead was never less than three during the final round, which he began at 18-under-par with a five-shot lead over Collin Morikawa.
Even though he had a win earlier in the season, Cink had missed the cut in five of his last 10 starts but was able to finish 12th in last week’s Masters Tournament. He was at odds of +12500 for the RBC Heritage and provided quite a payday for anyone willing to take a shot on the previous two-time winner at Harbour Town.
Favorites’ Performance in Hilton Head
Dustin Johnson came in as the favorite at odds of +1000 to win the tournament, the only regular tour stop that takes place in his home state of South Carolina. His final-round 66 was tied for the second-best of the day for a 13th-place finish. He’ll get another chance to win close to home in the PGA Championship on May 20-23 up the coast at Kiawah Island.
Defending champion Webb Simpson was at +1200 odds and appeared ready to make a run after a third-round 64, but his finishing 70 left him with a top 10 finish, as he tied for ninth place. Patrick Cantlay was looking to bounce back from a poor Masters performance but didn’t justify his +1600 odds as he again missed the cut after a pair of even-par 71s.
Morikawa was at +2000 and played with Cink in the final round, but after an opening birdie, he suffered an ugly bogey on the par-5 second hole and never recovered. The PGA champion shot a 72 and dropped into a tie for seventh place.
