50-Year-Old Stewart Cink Tied for Weekend Lead at Valspar, Makes 500th PGA Tour Cut

He's only the eighth player in PGA Tour history to reach the milestone.

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Friday’s windy conditions made scoring difficult at the Valspar Championship, but 50-year-old Stewart Cink shot a four-under 67 to move to six-under for the tournament, good enough to earn him a share of the weekend lead with four others. 

In the process, Cink became the eighth player to make 500 PGA Tour cuts in their career. Jay Haas (592) and Tom Kite (590) are atop the all-time list. The 2009 Open Championship winner was unaware he’d broken into the 500 club until after the round.

“I guess milestone would be appropriate language to use,” he told reporters. “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 is — I think that’s pretty respectable. 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.”

Kevin Streelman, Chandler Phillips, Brendan Todd and Mackenzie Hughes join Cink at the top of the leaderboard as play begins on Saturday. If Cink is able to emerge victorious he’ll become only the fifth player to win a PGA Tour event after turning 50 since 1975 (Craig Stadler, Fred Funk, Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson).

Kyle Koster is an editor at The Big Lead.