- Darren Fichardt leads the Simmons Bank Championship after a bogey-free 61.
- Zach Johnson is one stroke back, with defending champion Steven Alker third.
- Fichardt’s 61 ties the lowest round of the 2026 PGA Tour Champions season.
Darren Fichardt went out in 28 on his way to a bogey-free 11-under 61 in the second round of the Simmons Bank Championship. The round took the PGA Tour Champions rookie to 14-under at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock, Arkansas, one ahead of Zach Johnson.
The 51-year-old South African opened with a 69. His 61 ties Steven Alker’s first-round score from 2025 as the lowest round in the three years Pleasant Valley has hosted the event. It also equals the lowest 18-hole score of the season, matching the 61s posted by Alker and Mark Wilson in the second round of the Rogers Charity Classic.
His front-nine 28 is the lowest outward half in the eight tournament rounds played at the course since the event moved here in 2024.
It is not his first 61. Fichardt opened the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with one at Kingsbarns.
“It felt amazing,” said Fichardt. “The first 11 holes was awesome, I thought I was going to shoot nothing today, but then I made seven pars and felt like I was making seven bogeys after the first 10 holes, 11 holes. So yeah, it was good.”
Darren Fichardt with the round of his life 🔥 The 51-year-old caught fire on the front nine and is your current @SBGolfChamp leader, tying the all-time 18-hole record with a birdie on 18. https://t.co/uI0dVYbbRt
— PGA Tour Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 31, 2026
A rookie on the rise
This is Fichardt’s 15th start on the circuit and the first time he has led or co-led after 36 holes. His previous best halfway position was a tie for second at the Trophy Hassan II, where he finished tied 11th.
He earned his starts in 2026 through four open qualifiers and two top-10 finishes in open full-field events. In July he finished behind Jerry Kelly at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open at Gleneagles after a closing 66.
Fichardt won five times on the DP World Tour, most recently at the 2017 Joburg Open. On the Staysure Legends Tour he has won the 2025 Vattanac Legends Championship Legacy Edition and the 2026 Staysure PGA Seniors Championship. He was the 2025 Legends Tour Rookie of the Year and finished fourth on that season’s Order of Merit.
“[Tomorrow] I’d just like to try and do the best that I can and wherever it takes me, it takes me,” he added. “You know, obviously a win would be great, top 36 would be awesome. Just go out tomorrow and just play and try and do the best I can and see where it takes me.”
Victory would make him the seventh first-time winner on PGA Tour Champions this season. He began the week 46th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings and is projected to rise to 13th.
Johnson and Alker in pursuit
Johnson, who led after the first round with a 64, added a 67 to reach 131. His six wins are the most on the circuit this season. A seventh, in his 18th start, would equal the record for victories by a rookie, set by Bruce Crampton in 1986, Lee Trevino in 1990 and Bruce Fleisher in 1999. It would also lift him into a tie for third on the single-season wins list, behind only Peter Thomson and Hale Irwin with nine each. He is projected to stay second in the standings.
Alker, the defending champion, shot 67 to sit at 11-under. The New Zealander is chasing a fifth win of 2026 and a fourth in his last seven starts, following his victory at the Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic. A win would also equal Bernhard Langer’s record of five victories in Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs events.
The top 36 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings after Sunday’s final round qualify for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix. After 36 holes, four players are projected to move inside the top 36 and four to drop out.
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Simmons Bank Championship Leaderboard
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 | R2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Fichardt | -14 | 69 | 61 | 130 |
| 2 | Zach Johnson | -13 | 64 | 67 | 131 |
| T3 | Steven Alker | -11 | 66 | 67 | 133 |
| T3 | Henrik Stenson | -11 | 65 | 68 | 133 |
| T5 | Retief Goosen | -9 | 69 | 66 | 135 |
| T5 | Jerry Kelly | -9 | 68 | 67 | 135 |
| T5 | Ricardo Gonzalez | -9 | 68 | 67 | 135 |
| T5 | Michael Block | -9 | 66 | 69 | 135 |
| T9 | K.J. Choi | -8 | 71 | 65 | 136 |
| T9 | Mario Tiziani | -8 | 69 | 67 | 136 |
| T9 | Stephen Ames | -8 | 68 | 68 | 136 |
| T9 | Richard Green | -8 | 66 | 70 | 136 |
| T13 | Steve Allan | -7 | 71 | 66 | 137 |
| T13 | Alex Cejka | -7 | 70 | 67 | 137 |
| T13 | Dicky Pride | -7 | 70 | 67 | 137 |
| T13 | Ben Crane | -7 | 68 | 69 | 137 |
| T13 | Søren Kjeldsen | -7 | 67 | 70 | 137 |
| T18 | Scott Hend | -6 | 71 | 67 | 138 |
| T18 | Ernie Els | -6 | 71 | 67 | 138 |
| T18 | Bo Van Pelt | -6 | 71 | 67 | 138 |
| T18 | Brian Gay | -6 | 70 | 68 | 138 |
| T18 | Vijay Singh | -6 | 69 | 69 | 138 |
| T18 | Y.E. Yang | -6 | 67 | 71 | 138 |
| T24 | Cameron Percy | -5 | 71 | 68 | 139 |
| T24 | Stewart Cink | -5 | 69 | 70 | 139 |
| T24 | Boo Weekley | -5 | 69 | 70 | 139 |
| T24 | George McNeill | -5 | 68 | 71 | 139 |
| T28 | Tim Petrovic | -4 | 75 | 65 | 140 |
| T28 | Tommy Gainey | -4 | 72 | 68 | 140 |
| T28 | David Toms | -4 | 72 | 68 | 140 |
| T28 | Darren Clarke | -4 | 72 | 68 | 140 |
| T28 | Scott Parel | -4 | 72 | 68 | 140 |
| T28 | Freddie Jacobson | -4 | 70 | 70 | 140 |
| T28 | Paul Stankowski | -4 | 69 | 71 | 140 |
| T35 | Greg Chalmers | -3 | 73 | 68 | 141 |
| T35 | Miguel Angel Jiménez | -3 | 73 | 68 | 141 |
| T35 | Michael Wright | -3 | 72 | 69 | 141 |
| T35 | Charlie Wi | -3 | 71 | 70 | 141 |
| T35 | Ryan Armour | -3 | 71 | 70 | 141 |
| T35 | Tag Ridings | -3 | 68 | 73 | 141 |
| T35 | Rory Sabbatini | -3 | 68 | 73 | 141 |
| T35 | Jamie Donaldson | -3 | 68 | 73 | 141 |
| T43 | Steve Flesch | -2 | 72 | 70 | 142 |
| T43 | Tim O'Neal | -2 | 70 | 72 | 142 |
| T43 | Justin Leonard | -2 | 70 | 72 | 142 |
| T46 | Vaughn Taylor | -1 | 72 | 71 | 143 |
| T46 | Padraig Harrington | -1 | 72 | 71 | 143 |
| 48 | Paul Goydos | Par | 70 | 74 | 144 |
| 49 | Thongchai Jaidee | +1 | 74 | 71 | 145 |
| 50 | Robert Karlsson | +3 | 76 | 71 | 147 |
| 51 | Jason Caron | +5 | 78 | 71 | 149 |
Simon Bale
Simon Bale is the publisher of Golf Today. A low single-figure handicap golfer, he was previously a major shareholder and course reviewer for Top100GolfCourses.com for over a decade, starting in 2010. Through this role, he developed extensive knowledge of golf course design and architecture while playing more than 300 courses worldwide.