Germany’s Alex Cejka is tied with first-round leader Stewart Cink after 36 holes of the Stifel Charity Classic on Saturday in St. Louis.
Cejka fired a 5-under-par 66 to move up four spots at Norwood Hills Country Club. Cink also is at 9 under for the tournament after he followed Friday’s 7-under 64 with 69 on Saturday.
Cink, who placed third last year at this course when the event was still called the Ascension Charity Classic, started fast with a birdie on the par-4 first hole. But he more than gave that back with a double-bogey 7 on No. 8 in an otherwise clean 1-over 37 on the front nine.
“I had a little weird thing on 7 and made double there. I’d like to have one shot over,” Cink said. “But all in all, today was really clean and organized and disciplined. … Today didn’t yield that much, but it still put me with a chance to make a run at this tomorrow.”
His bogey-free back nine included birdies at Nos. 11, 14 and 15.
Cejka has three career wins on the PGA Tour Champions but none this year with six top-10 finishes while making every cut in all 18 events played coming into this week.
“I’m trying,” Cejka said Saturday of coming up short in 2025. “We have so many great players, and they seem to play good every week. If I want to have a chance, I really have to shoot another 4-, 5-, 6-under tomorrow. I think this is what it’s going to take. It would be great. … I’ve been playing well. Just haven’t had it done. We’ll see. I’ve got to just stick to my plan, play, hit a lot of fairways and, hopefully, I make enough putts tomorrow.”
He recorded birdies at Nos. 7, 8, 11, 14, 15 and 16, with the only blemish a bogey at the par-4 No. 9.
“I’m pretty pleased overall,” said Cejka, whose last win was the Senior Open Championship in 2023. “I hit the ball pretty solid. I hit a lot of fairways. That’s the key here, especially some of the pins are tucked so you want to come in from the fairway. Really hit good shots even to the green. If I missed a couple shots, I missed it in the right spot, and there was also the key.”
“The putting, the lag putting was good,” he continued. “I made a couple good birdie putts, and overall, I’m just starting to play better and better.”
Paul Stankowski (67 on Saturday) and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn (69) are tied for third, one stroke back at 8 under going into Sunday’s third and final round.
Tim O’Neal (66) is at 7 under, South Korea’s Charlie Wi (69) is 6 under, followed by a pack of five golfers at 5 under.
Last year’s champion, Y.E. Yang of South Korea, is tied for 29th at 2 under after a round of 3-over 74.
