By Roy J. Akers- Sky View Sports.net
Grand Blank, Mich. – The 7th edition of the Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills CC in Grand Blanc still tugs at the heart strings of players who played the course in the prime of their PGA careers. Now that they are playing it again as members of the PGA Champions Tour, the good feelings are not only nostalgic, but give them a chance to keep their competitive juices going and play competitive golf.
Stewart Cink looking for his first Champions Tour win
Stewart Cink has eight PGA Tour wins and still plays more golf on that tour but enjoys playing with guys he is familiar with. In our press scrum, Cink addresses that, Warwick Hills and even takes a Tiger question in this five minute scrum. More on Cink.
Padraig Harrington building quite a Champions Tour resume
Padraig Harrington is a World Golf Hall of Famer and won of several that are playing in the Ally Challenge presented by McLaren this week. Harrington has already won eight times on the Champions Tour at age 51 and nearly won the last Champions Tour event in Canada last week. He talks about how he loves Warwick, his near victory and like Cink, took a Tiger question in this short interview.
My question to Padraig on catching Bernhard Langer on the Champions Tour wins list.
Paddy, you’ve already won eight times on this tour, you’re still a young man on
this tour. Do you think you or anybody else is going to make a run at Bernhard?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: No. I’ve tried to did the math on it as you would say, the maths
as I would say. Yeah, no, it doesn’t look possible or likely, but the reality is it mightn’t be me
but all records are broken, that’s just the way it is. When somebody sets a record, it’s a goal
for somebody else and they’ll chase it down eventually. Certainly for myself, it would seem
like an incredibly tall order. Yeah, he’s 67, still playing great, which is amazing and an
inspiration to us all, but to get to his amount of wins I think is a step too far for me
Joe Durant is still winning at age 60
Joe Durant was nearly done playing Champions Tour golf in 2021. He gave it one last go and promptly won the Ally Challenge. Joe is 14th in Schwab Cup points at age 60 and won for the first time since the Ally Challenge victory taking the Cologuard Classic earlier this season. He talks about his golf, the mental game, watching video to remember playing points and more.
Here is my question to Joe Durant. Q-In 2021 when you won, I think you had a little lull where you were kind of contemplating whether you were going to continue on the Champions Tour. You won
here, you won Cologuard. You must be in a much better place today out on the
Champions Tour knowing you can still win at age 60.
JOE DURANT: “Yeah, very thankful I haven’t had too many injuries. You know, you always
go through periods of doubt when you’re playing golf professionally because you’re kind of
the lone ranger out there, you don’t have anybody to fall back on.
And it can be demoralizing. I mean, the last couple months have been kind of demoralizing
for me, but you’ve just got to keep your head up, keep working, working on the right things,
have faith in your ability. I look back at old videos of like when I won here a couple years back and when I won in Tucson earlier this year, you know, you just try to rekindle those thoughts and hopefully play
better.”
The Ally Challenge starts on Friday. Tickets are still available.
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net