September 10-13
Silverado Resort and Spa North, Napa, California
$6,600,000
Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

Stewart Cink is back in the winner's circle for the first time since the 2009 Open at Turnberry after closing with a 7-under 65.

It was an emotional win for Cink with his son, Reagan, on the bag this week and his wife, in her fifth year of cancer remission, watching.

''I definitely had a lot of emotions out there today,'' Cink said. ''I just was overcome at a few times with a feeling of gratitude and just feeling like how fortunate I am to be in the position that I'm in. It all just kind of poured together into feeling like, 'Wow, this is really special.'''

Cink, 47, is the oldest winner on Tour since Phil Mickelson's win at Pebble Beach in February 2019.

He failed to make the playoffs last season with only one top-10 finish, and hasn't made it to the top-5 since he tied for fourth at the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive. He admitted he had come to terms with the possibility he might never win on Tour again.

"I did, but it's not something I was settled or content with," Cink said. "I still compete to try to win, and I work hard on my game. And I just try to squeeze every little bit of juice I can out of my golf game, out of that lemon.

"I've played some good golf over the years, but it's been a while since I really played well over four rounds," Cink said. "When it came time for me to kind of wrestle the bull to the ground, we were able to keep our composure, me and Reagan both - at least it looked like it on the outside - and get the job done."

He started the new season with conditional status and is now fully exempt through the 2023 season, during which he will turn 50 and become eligible to join the PGA Tour Champions. He has also won entry to the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Players, Masters and PGA Championship in 2021.

"One of the best things about winning the Safeway Open is it's the first tournament of the (season), and you get the rest of the year and the year after that, which yours truly will be turning 50 right around that time (May 2023)," Cink said. "So this is key timing for me to get a win. It will keep me in fields for the rest of my career until I turn 50, and then I can move on to another tour maybe. We'll see."

Phil Mickelson finished at 10-under, breaking par in all four rounds, in a tie for 44th place, after a week of struggling off the tee and only hitting 12 of 56 fairways.

"I've got some things to work on, but it's not far off," Mickelson said. "I've got to drive the ball well, my short game needs to be sharp, putting needs to get sharper on faster greens. Lag putting, that's going to be key. All those things."

He remains optimistic that he can smooth out these issues in time for the U.S. Open next week.

"There was some positives, too," he said. "It's not that far off. It's not a complete mess, but I'm not striking it the way I've been striking it the last few months. It's not far off, but it's got to click in the next few days."

Scottie Scheffler, the leading candidate as PGA Tour rookie of the year, was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Open after testing positive for the coronavirus. He was replaced by Branden Grace, the first alternate based on the August 23 World Ranking, who himself had to withdraw from the PGA Championship last month after he tested positive.

''We are sorry to lose a member of the USGA family in this year's U.S. Open field,'' said John Bodenhamer, the USGA senior managing director of championships. ''Scottie has had a phenomenal rookie season and we look forward to welcoming him back to the U.S. Open Championship for many years to come.''