- Darren Clarke shot a 7-under 64 to lead the Stifel Charity Classic by one stroke.
- Mark Hensby is second, with Vaughn Taylor and Tim Petrovic tied for third.
- Clarke’s 64 ties the tournament’s first-round scoring record.
Darren Clarke opened the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs with a 7-under 64 in St. Louis on Friday. It gave him a one-stroke lead over Mark Hensby after the first round of the Stifel Charity Classic.
The 58-year-old went out in 32 and came home in 32. His nine birdies were the most in the field and were set against a single blemish, a double bogey at the 13th. His 64 ties the tournament’s first-round record, last matched by Stewart Cink a year ago. It is also three shots better than his previous low at the event, a 67 in the second round in both 2022 and 2024.
A one-shot lead may not sound much, but it ties the largest 18-hole lead in the tournament’s history, alongside Y.E. Yang in 2024 and Cink in 2025.
“Three weeks I’ve just struggled. I’m not a very patient person, I’m not a very patient man. I tend to put a lot of work into my game, and whenever I don’t see any results I tend to get very, very frustrated. Certainly past three weeks have pushed me to the limit,” Clarke said.
“ I had my old instructor out there last week and worked on a few things, covering the ball a little bit more with my chest the way that I play golf.
“I putted well today as well. You’ve got to do that. I shot 7-under with a double out of nowhere so you’ve got to putt well. I hit it close, but I putted nicely, too.”
Can Clarke convert?
This is the eighth time Clarke has led or co-led after the first round on PGA Tour Champions, and he has turned only two of the previous seven into wins. Earlier this season he shared the first-round lead at the Chubb Classic with Michael Wright after an opening 65, then finished tied 32nd.
He is chasing his seventh PGA Tour Champions title, in his 171st start, and a second of 2026. His win this year came at the American Family Insurance Championship, the team event he won with Ben Crane. His last individual victory was the 2022 Senior Open Championship.
A win would make him the season’s fourth multiple winner, joining Zach Johnson (6), Cink (5) and Steven Alker (4). He has never won the Stifel Charity Classic in four previous appearances, and his best finish was a tie for eighth in 2024. Clarke started the week 12th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings and is projected to climb to fifth.
“The old saying is answer’s in the dirt … I’m not shy with putting the time in.” @DarrenClarke60 went back to what works ahead of @StifelCC. The Irishman is currently the solo leader after Round 1 thanks to a 7-under 64 on Friday in St. Louis. https://t.co/9I4ZbtFQVO
— PGA Tour Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 23, 2026
The chasers
Hensby started on the 10th and went round without a bogey for a 6-under 65. The 55-year-old Australian is making his 100th PGA Tour Champions start and is looking for his second win, after taking the 2023 Invited Celebrity Classic in a playoff.
Vaughn Taylor, who won the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS in a playoff two weeks ago, carded a 5-under 66 on his first appearance at the event. The 50-year-old rookie is in his 20th senior start.
Tim Petrovic joined him on 66. The 60-year-old eagled the par-5 8th, his 17th hole of the day. He is still looking for a first PGA Tour Champions win in his 228th start, and has 11 runner-up finishes to his name.
Cink, the defending Charles Schwab Cup champion and current No. 1, is fifth alone after a bogey-free 67 that featured birdies at the 8th, 11th, 14th and 17th.
A dozen players share sixth on 3-under including Vijay Singh, who won the SAS Championship last week and made five birdies but dropped shots on back-to-back holes at the 10th and 11th.
Johnson and Alker, second and third in the standings, both shot 68. They are two of the three Sprint to St. Louis finalists, and whichever finalist finishes highest this week collects the $200,000 winner-take-all prize.
Among the former champions, Pádraig Harrington (2022) and Steve Flesch (2023) opened with 69s. Harrington holed out for eagle at the 384-yard par-4 1st and birdied the 18th. David Toms (2021) shot 70 and Yang (2024) a 71.
The race for the top 54
The Stifel Charity Classic is the first of three Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs events. The field includes 68 of the top 72 in the standings, and only the top 54 after this week advance to next week’s Simmons Bank Championship in Little Rock, Arkansas. The top 36 after that go through to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, Arizona, from November 12 to 15.
Hensby, who came in 62nd, is projected to rise to 36th. Petrovic, who entered 60th, is projected 40th. Heading the other way are Justin Leonard, who arrived 52nd and is projected 55th after a share of 48th, and J.J. Henry, tied 61st, who is projected to slip from 53rd to 57th. Chad Campbell, tied 39th, started the week 50th and is now projected to sit on the line at 54th.
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Stifel Charity Classic Leaderboard
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Clarke | -7 | 64 |
| 2 | Mark Hensby | -6 | 65 |
| T3 | Vaughn Taylor | -5 | 66 |
| T3 | Tim Petrovic | -5 | 66 |
| 5 | Stewart Cink | -4 | 67 |
| T6 | Steve Allan | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Ángel Cabrera | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Greg Chalmers | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Vijay Singh | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Thongchai Jaidee | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Rory Sabbatini | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Jamie Donaldson | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Scott Parel | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Alex Cejka | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Zach Johnson | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Steven Alker | -3 | 68 |
| T6 | Shane Bertsch | -3 | 68 |
| T18 | Michael Block | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Stephen Ames | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Steve Flesch | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Michael Wright | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Robert Karlsson | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Freddie Jacobson | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Richard Green | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Henrik Stenson | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Søren Kjeldsen | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | David Bransdon | -2 | 69 |
| T18 | Padraig Harrington | -2 | 69 |
| T29 | Ricardo Gonzalez | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | David Toms | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | Mario Tiziani | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | Jerry Kelly | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | Miguel Angel Jiménez | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | Stuart Appleby | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | Ernie Els | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | George McNeill | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | Brett Quigley | -1 | 70 |
| T29 | Retief Goosen | -1 | 70 |
| T39 | Darren Fichardt | Par | 71 |
| T39 | Charlie Wi | Par | 71 |
| T39 | Cameron Percy | Par | 71 |
| T39 | Chad Campbell | Par | 71 |
| T39 | Colin Montgomerie | Par | 71 |
| T39 | Y.E. Yang | Par | 71 |
| T39 | David Duval | Par | 71 |
| T39 | Mathew Goggin | Par | 71 |
| T39 | Harrison Frazar | Par | 71 |
| T48 | Ryan Armour | +1 | 72 |
| T48 | Bernhard Langer | +1 | 72 |
| T48 | Paul Goydos | +1 | 72 |
| T48 | Dicky Pride | +1 | 72 |
| T48 | Justin Leonard | +1 | 72 |
| T48 | Ben Crane | +1 | 72 |
| T48 | Boo Weekley | +1 | 72 |
| T55 | Bo Van Pelt | +2 | 73 |
| T55 | Tim O'Neal | +2 | 73 |
| T55 | Ken Tanigawa | +2 | 73 |
| T55 | Tommy Gainey | +2 | 73 |
| T55 | Doug Barron | +2 | 73 |
| T55 | Tag Ridings | +2 | 73 |
| T61 | Paul Stankowski | +3 | 74 |
| T61 | Jason Caron | +3 | 74 |
| T61 | J.J. Henry | +3 | 74 |
| T64 | Rod Pampling | +4 | 75 |
| T64 | John Rollins | +4 | 75 |
| 66 | Scott Hend | +6 | 77 |
| 67 | Brian Gay | +7 | 78 |
| 68 | K.J. Choi | +8 | 79 |
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.