HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC – Golf was exceptional for Stewart Zinc. What made his third RBC Heritage title truly special was that his family was there to experience his defiant success for years.
Zinc hugged his son Reagan, his caddy, after concluding his four-shot victory at Harbor Town effortlessly on the 18th hole with the lighthouse frame. Wife Lisa, their second son Connor and his fiancée Jess Baker were in the gallery cheering on Zink’s second win of the season.
“Having that kind of glass waiting for the celebration in the end,” Zinc said, “is just an experience you don’t have so often in your life.”
Perhaps the Zinc family is waiting for more such joyful moments after Stewart’s revival on the PGA tour.
He shot in a stable 70, stress-free, to make up for the dominant, record-breaking week at age 47 – when many players look forward to the PGA Tour champions.
Instead, Zinc ended up at four better than Emiliano Grillo i Harold Warner III. Grillo hit 68, while Warner, who had the highest finish of his career, hit 66.
Thirty-year-old Warner found a lot of encouragement in the man who beat him.
“He’s old and he’s hitting everyone,” Warner said. “Yeah, it inspires me. It inspires me to know I can play golf for a long time.”
The zinc hugged around the celebration.
“I don’t even know if I have words,” Stewart Zink said.
He won for the second time this season – just him and Bryson DeChambeau they did it. He broke an eleven-year drought without winning the first season’s tournament, the Safeway Open, in September.
That one seemed to be coming out of nowhere. But Zinc backed it up with four more top 20 finals, including a 12th draw at the Masters.
He won $ 1.278 million, almost as much as $ 1.404 million for his two previous victories at Harbor Town combined.
The second win comes with a big advantage – Zinc earned an exemption at the US Open in Torrey Pines in June. It will be the first US Open since 2017 for the former British Open champion.
Zinc became the fourth player to win twice in the same season of the PGA tour after turning 47. Sam Snead, Julius Boros and Kenny Perry, who achieved this twice, remained.
Zinc has been performing for years, shooting from 16 under 126 in the first two rounds – knocking down the lowest score of 36 holes in Harbor Town from 13 under 129, he shared Jack Nicklaus i Phil Mickelson. Zinc added 69 on Saturday and scored 18 below, two better than Justin Leonardresult of 54 holes in 2002.
Zinc brought a five-shot lead in the final round and dared all chasers to come for him. No one ran towards Zinc, who led with at least three strokes.
PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa, paired with Zinc, open birdie. But the specter on the second and fourth holes pulled Morikawa out of the combination.
Maverick McNealy he had five birds on the front nine to climb to the 14-under, four behind Zinc, in the middle of the round. Consecutive thieves on the 11th and 12th ended McNealy’s wave.
Grillo and Warner were the closest with 15 under and were just three back to Zinc’s last birdie on a par-3 17th, which was all but sure to add another winning link jacket to those he won in 2000 and 2004 . years.
Zinc created 17 birds and two eagles in the first three rounds. He only had two little birds on Sunday, but that was more than enough to achieve his eighth career victory.
Zinc was expecting a fight. Instead, he said he spent most of the day fighting the course, not the field. After his strong play at Augusta National, he was full of confidence.
“I really felt like I had things like that that were going to be very hard to beat,” he said.
It was completely impossible to chase him after his great hot start on Thursday and Friday.
“What’s so amazing is this kind of rebirth that Stewart is going through at such an old age,” Lisa Zink said. “I’m amazed at how well he’s playing at this point in his career.”
McNealy (67), Corey Conners (68) i Matt Fitzpatrick (68) tied for fourth with 13-under. Morikawa slipped to seventh after 72, tied with Chris Kirk (67) under 12 years of age.
Top ranked Dustin Johnson closed with his best round of the tournament at 66, to finish a draw in 13th place with a 10-under. Johnson was the Masters champion in November, but missed the cut there last week and never clashed at Harbor Town.
“I just feel like I’ve made too many mistakes,” he said. “You’re wrong here, they’re punishing you quite a bit.”
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