With two tournaments to go in the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs, Zach Johnson is making his move.
Johnson, second to Stewart Cink in the season-long standings, shot an 8-under-par 64 on Friday to take the first-round lead at the Simmons Bank Championship in Little Rock, Ark.
Johnson holds a one-shot lead over Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, while tied for third at 6-under 66 are Michael Block, Australian Richard Green and New Zealand’s Steven Alker, the latter of whom is a two-time Schwab Cup champ and sits third in the current race.
Johnson, the former U.S. Ryder Cup captain and two-time major champ, finished birdie-birdie at Pleasant Valley Country Club to complete his bogey-free round. He rolled in a long putt at the par-3 17th and came close to holding his third shot at the par-5 18th, setting up a short birdie.
“I had 109 (yards to the) hole and I hit a 56-degree (wedge),” Johnson said of his approach at No. 18. “It was one of those where, I mean I can probably max out my 56 at about 112. Wind was right to left. If anything, maybe a pinch of help, but I’m like, this is perfect. So the number in my head was 110 and it flew 110 and it spun back to whatever, 4 feet, 5 feet maybe.”
With what’s at stake, Johnson was glad to have a straightforward day to kick off the tournament.
“I put myself in the fairway a lot and just gave myself ample and really good opportunities,” said Johnson, a rookie on the PGA Tour Champions at 50. “… Just not a whole lot of stress if I’m going to be (honest) — which I like, low stress, especially the first day. I love a low-stress day.”
Fifty-four players qualified for the season’s penultimate event (51 are playing), but only the top 36 in points after Sunday will make the Charles Schwab Cup Championship two weeks from now in Phoenix.
Stenson, who began the week at No. 41 and is currently projected to jump to No. 20, is playing for more than just a spot in the finale. The former LIV Golf member, whose PGA Tour suspension expired earlier this year, is preparing himself to play a full-time schedule on the PGA Tour Champions in 2027.
“I was being realistic. I thought it was going to take some time to work on my game and get back in the groove of things,” Stenson said. “I just tried to stay with the processes. If you do enough good things over time, the results will come. And I’m not planning on changing anything just because I had a good round here and not because I had a good tournament last week. I’m just trying to keep on doing the things that I know and want to do.”
Alker had a strong round highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 10th, but he lost a stroke with a bogey 6 at No. 18.
“Coming in I still wasn’t quite hitting it how I wanted to and then bogey on the last,” he said. “But yeah, I just, I didn’t really have control of my ball today, which hasn’t really happened for a long time … My short game held me together and I was pleased with that.”
