Stewart Cink missed one three-peat. He'll go for another in Michigan
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When Stewart Cink thinks back to when things started to click for him on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, he thinks back to Michigan. It was August 2024, and he was playing the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc for the first time since turning 50. It was his first time playing Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club since the old Buick Open days.
Cink decided before the 2024 Ally that he was going to make the PGA Tour Champions tour his full-time tour.
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He went out that week and won his first Champions tournament. He's won seven Champions tournaments since, including the Ally Challenge again last year. Next month, Cink will go for the three-peat.
"The golf course is fun to play. You know what you're going to get every year," Cink said Tuesday during Ally media day, speaking to Michigan reporters virtually while preparing to play this week's British Open at Royal Birkdale in England. "We know how to play it. It's just a question about how you execute.
"And I think that's one of the reasons players love playing at Warwick Hills. There's no tricks.
"It's just a pleasure to play a golf course like that."
Cink, 53, has become one of the stars of the PGA Tour Champions, winning four times this year, including the season's first two majors. He missed on a third major, losing to Padraig Harrington in the final round of the U.S. Senior Open earlier this month.
He will go for a third straight Ally, though, when the tournament is played Aug. 28-30. Cink is trying to become the first player to win the same PGA Tour Champions tournament three straight years since Steve Stricker won the Sanford International from 2022-24.
Cink's two victories at Warwick have come in different styles. In 2024, his ball-striking, his bread and butter, was on, as he cruised to a four-shot win over K.J. Choi. Cink finished 17 under. Then, last year, he was more wild off the tee, making things tougher at tree-lined Warwick. But his putter saved him. He was 15 under and beat Ernie Els in a playoff.
This year marks the ninth playing of the Ally Challenge, and potentially the last. The title sponsor's contract runs through 2026, and there is no word on any imminent extension.
Michigan already is losing the PGA Tour's Rocket Classic after it's held for the eighth and final time from July 30-Aug. 2 at Detroit Golf Club, after Rocket declined to pick up its option for 2027 amid looming and significant changes to the PGA Tour's scheddule. LIV Golf is supposed to again hold its season-ending team championship at The Cardinal in Plymouth Township the same weekend as the Ally, but those plans are shaky amid LIV Golf's funding crisis.
"It's sad," PGA Tour Champions rookie Michael Block said of the Rocket Classic's demise. "Michigan definitely deserves to have a PGA Tour event, as well. It's definitely got a ton of great golf, (it's) one of the most beautiful areas in the world. It's sad, losing the Rocket over in Detroit. You never want to see that.
"Hopefully another sponsor comes out and gets another event going. ... Something like that would definitely be needed for the (PGA) Tour.
"I'm obviously thrilled that the Ally Challenge is there in Michigan."
Block, who turned 50 in June, has played two PGA Tour Champions events, so far, including a tie for ninth at the Dick's Open and a tie for 31st at the U.S. Senior Open. He burst onto the national golf scene in 2023 when he tied for 15th at the PGA Championship, a tournament highlighted by his hole-in-one while he was playing alongside Rory McIlroy during the final round. Block has never played Warwick before.
When is the 2026 Ally Challenge?
▶ When: Aug. 28-30
▶ Where: Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club, Grand Blanc
▶ 2025 champion: Stewart Cink (he also won in 2024)
▶ Tickets: Grounds passes start at $40 for Aug. 28, $75 for Aug. 29 (includes admission to the post-round Keith Urban concert), and $30 for Aug. 30. Weekly grounds passes start at $110. Details at TheAllyChallenge.com.
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Stewart Cink missed one three-peat. He'll go for another in Michigan