- Darren Fichardt won the Simmons Bank Championship, one stroke ahead of Zach Johnson.
- Fichardt closed with a birdie-eagle finish for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
- The win moved him from 46th to 17th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
Darren Fichardt holed a 10-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th at Pleasant Valley Country Club on Sunday to win the Simmons Bank Championship by one shot from Zach Johnson. It is his first PGA Tour Champions title.
The 51-year-old South African closed with an 8-under 64 to finish at 22-under 194. That total breaks the 54-hole tournament record for the three years Pleasant Valley has hosted the event, beating the 196 Steven Alker posted in 2025.
The finish also cost Johnson the top spot in the standings going into the final event of the season.
Birdie, eagle, title
Johnson led by one with two holes to play, and nobody else was close. At the par-3 17th, Fichardt hit a 3-iron to about eight feet from a back pin and holed the birdie putt to draw level.
At the 18th, his fairway metal bounced onto the front of the green and left him about 10 feet for eagle. Johnson’s second finished above the ridge. From there his ball raced some 10 feet past the cup, and he narrowly holed the birdie putt for his own 64 at 21-under. That left Fichardt needing his eagle putt to win, and he made it.
Fichardt is the first player to eagle the final hole of regulation and win since Justin Leonard at the 2025 Dominion Energy Charity Classic.
“That’s something fairy tales are written about,” Fichardt said. “One of my concerns was to get into the playoffs and through nine holes I saw I had a bit of a gap. So just tried to free up a little bit and start making a few birdies and maybe have a chance at winning.”
“I’m going to stick with that putter,” he added. “That putter was unbelievable this week. Ball-striking wasn’t that great with the irons, but the putting was amazing. That wins tournaments.”
Fichardt had taken the 36-hole lead with a bogey-free 61 on Saturday, tying the lowest score of the 2026 season. Sunday was the first time he had converted a halfway lead or co-lead on the circuit. He won in his 15th start, having earned his places this year through four open qualifiers and two top-10 finishes in open full-field events. In July he finished runner-up to Jerry Kelly at the Senior Open at Gleneagles.
The win gives him PGA Tour Champions status through the end of 2027 and starts at the 2027 and 2028 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. He is the seventh first-time winner of the season. He is also the eighth South African to win on the circuit and the second this year, after Retief Goosen. He already has five DP World Tour titles and two wins on the Staysure Legends Tour, including this year’s Staysure PGA Seniors Championship.
Johnson stays second
Johnson had been chasing a seventh win of the season, which would have equalled the record for a rookie. He settled for his 11th top-three finish of 2026 and remains second in the standings. Stewart Cink, who tied for 10th, goes to Phoenix still bidding to become the first player to lead the Charles Schwab Cup every week of a season since the competition began in 2001.
Jerry Kelly closed with a 67 to finish third at 14-under.
Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs |
||||
| Player | To Par | Schwab Cup Standings Start |
Standings Projected
|
|
| 1st | Darren Fichardt | -22 | 46th | 17th – IN |
| T7 | Ricardo Gonzalez | -12 | 40th | 31st – IN |
| T10 | Bo Van Pelt | -11 | 38th | 34th – IN |
| T21 | Mario Tiziani | -8 | 34th | 37th – OUT |
| T29 | Greg Chalmers | -6 | 36th | 39th – OUT |
| 51st | Jason Caron | +3 | 33rd | 38th – OUT |
Stenson misses out on Phoenix
The top 36 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings qualify for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix from November 12 to 15.
Henrik Stenson looked set to be one of them. The Swede was tied for third when he three-putted for a double bogey at the 15th. He bogeyed the 16th, birdied the 17th and then three-putted the last for another bogey. He fell into a tie for 15th and missed the cut-off by four places.
Ricardo Gonzalez tied for seventh and climbed nine spots to 31st, earning his third consecutive berth in the finale. Bo Van Pelt, in his second season on the circuit, tied for 10th to move from 38th to 34th and reach the Championship for the first time. Mario Tiziani, Greg Chalmers and Jason Caron all dropped out of the top 36.
Related: Jean Hugo Fires Course-Record 62 to Win Portugal Legends Championship
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Simmons Bank Championship Learderboard
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Fichardt | -22 | 69 | 61 | 64 | 194 |
| 2 | Zach Johnson | -21 | 64 | 67 | 64 | 195 |
| 3 | Jerry Kelly | -14 | 68 | 67 | 67 | 202 |
| T4 | George McNeill | -13 | 68 | 71 | 64 | 203 |
| T4 | Søren Kjeldsen | -13 | 67 | 70 | 66 | 203 |
| T4 | Scott Hend | -13 | 71 | 67 | 65 | 203 |
| T7 | Y.E. Yang | -12 | 67 | 71 | 66 | 204 |
| T7 | Alex Cejka | -12 | 70 | 67 | 67 | 204 |
| T7 | Ricardo Gonzalez | -12 | 68 | 67 | 69 | 204 |
| T10 | Stewart Cink | -11 | 69 | 70 | 66 | 205 |
| T10 | Bo Van Pelt | -11 | 71 | 67 | 67 | 205 |
| T10 | Steve Allan | -11 | 71 | 66 | 68 | 205 |
| T10 | Michael Block | -11 | 66 | 69 | 70 | 205 |
| T10 | Steven Alker | -11 | 66 | 67 | 72 | 205 |
| T15 | Ernie Els | -10 | 71 | 67 | 68 | 206 |
| T15 | Henrik Stenson | -10 | 65 | 68 | 73 | 206 |
| T15 | Retief Goosen | -10 | 69 | 66 | 71 | 206 |
| T18 | Paul Stankowski | -9 | 69 | 71 | 67 | 207 |
| T18 | Freddie Jacobson | -9 | 70 | 70 | 67 | 207 |
| T18 | Stephen Ames | -9 | 68 | 68 | 71 | 207 |
| T21 | Boo Weekley | -8 | 69 | 70 | 69 | 208 |
| T21 | Vijay Singh | -8 | 69 | 69 | 70 | 208 |
| T21 | Mario Tiziani | -8 | 69 | 67 | 72 | 208 |
| T21 | Richard Green | -8 | 66 | 70 | 72 | 208 |
| T25 | Rory Sabbatini | -7 | 68 | 73 | 68 | 209 |
| T25 | Tommy Gainey | -7 | 72 | 68 | 69 | 209 |
| T25 | Ben Crane | -7 | 68 | 69 | 72 | 209 |
| T25 | K.J. Choi | -7 | 71 | 65 | 73 | 209 |
| T29 | Tim O'Neal | -6 | 70 | 72 | 68 | 210 |
| T29 | Tag Ridings | -6 | 68 | 73 | 69 | 210 |
| T29 | Greg Chalmers | -6 | 73 | 68 | 69 | 210 |
| T29 | Darren Clarke | -6 | 72 | 68 | 70 | 210 |
| T29 | Dicky Pride | -6 | 70 | 67 | 73 | 210 |
| T34 | Vaughn Taylor | -5 | 72 | 71 | 68 | 211 |
| T34 | Michael Wright | -5 | 72 | 69 | 70 | 211 |
| T34 | Ryan Armour | -5 | 71 | 70 | 70 | 211 |
| T34 | Tim Petrovic | -5 | 75 | 65 | 71 | 211 |
| T34 | David Toms | -5 | 72 | 68 | 71 | 211 |
| T34 | Cameron Percy | -5 | 71 | 68 | 72 | 211 |
| T40 | Thongchai Jaidee | -4 | 74 | 71 | 67 | 212 |
| T40 | Steve Flesch | -4 | 72 | 70 | 70 | 212 |
| T40 | Jamie Donaldson | -4 | 68 | 73 | 71 | 212 |
| T40 | Scott Parel | -4 | 72 | 68 | 72 | 212 |
| T40 | Brian Gay | -4 | 70 | 68 | 74 | 212 |
| T45 | Padraig Harrington | -3 | 72 | 71 | 70 | 213 |
| T45 | Paul Goydos | -3 | 70 | 74 | 69 | 213 |
| T45 | Justin Leonard | -3 | 70 | 72 | 71 | 213 |
| T45 | Miguel Angel Jiménez | -3 | 73 | 68 | 72 | 213 |
| T49 | Robert Karlsson | -1 | 76 | 71 | 68 | 215 |
| T49 | Charlie Wi | -1 | 71 | 70 | 74 | 215 |
| 51 | Jason Caron | +3 | 78 | 71 | 70 | 219 |
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.