Stewart Cink is inching toward his second career PGA Tour Champions major title, as the veteran on Saturday shot a 1-under-par 71 to clear the field by three strokes headed into Sunday’s championship round at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Ala.

Cink took home his first major championship just two weeks ago when he won the Senior PGA Championship in Bradenton, Fla.

Despite not matching the heights achieved through his first two rounds, when Cink totaled 16 birdies over two days, his round nevertheless allowed him to expand his lead after leading by two at the conclusion of Friday’s round, and it came in difficult windy conditions.

“Overall today it was just a lot harder day to score out there,” Cink said. “I wasn’t quite as sharp either as I was the first couple days, but sometimes the golf course, you know, it just turns on you a little bit. The wind direction on a lot of the holes was awkward and it was difficult to pick out a lot of the gusts in the direction of it.”

Cink’s lead growing came in part because closest competitor Charlie Wi suffered a miserable round on Saturday, clunking home four bogeys and two double-bogeys on the way to a 5-over 77.

Cink moved to 15-under for the tournament by kickstarting his day with three birdies over his first five holes. His birdie on the fifth was sandwiched by two bogeys, and he closed his front nine 1 under. On the back nine, he balanced a double bogey with two birdies (the latter coming on Hole 18) to finish his day a stroke under par.

“The birdie at the last was nice,” Cink said. “That was some pretty good shots. But the double on the 15th hole was, that’s what happens when you hit a whole bunch of bad shots in one hole, you get a bad score, and I did.”

Cink, who grew up 120 miles northwest of Birmingham in Florence, Ala., has had a large, supportive gallery thanks to that proximity.

But the 72-hole event held at Greystone Golf and Country Club was more unkind to most of the other major challengers on Saturday. South Africa’s Retief Goosen (74), Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (75) and Czechia’s Alex Cejka (74) had all been in a tie for third, and none could reach par, falling further behind Cink’s pace.

Just three golfers are within five shots of Cink after a day of high scores. Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie is closest at 12 under after his 5-under 67. He had seven birdies to go along with two bogeys to match his low round for the tournament.

“This is the beauty of the game of golf, isn’t it, that age is just a number in the game of golf,” Montgomerie said. “If it was any other sport, you would be well gone by now.”

Doug Barron (69) and New Zealand’s Steven Alker (71) are tied for third at 10 under.

Four golfers are tied for fifth at 9 under alongside Goosen and Cejka: Matt Gogel (68), South Korea’s Y.E. Yang (70), Ken Tanigawa (70) and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen (71). Jaidee is T11 while Wi is T15.

–Field Level Media

Kyle Harrison pitched six solid innings and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Nationals 4-1 on Saturday in Washington.

Brandon Lockridge had two hits including a two-run single and William Contreras, who had four hits in each of his past two games, went 1-for-4 with an intentional walk.

Harrison (3-1) gave up a run on seven hits. He struck out five and walked one while lowering his ERA to 2.12. Abner Uribe pitched the ninth for his third save, closing it out after the first two batters reached base.

James Wood had two hits and Curtis Mead doubled and scored a run for the Nationals.

Washington’s Foster Griffin (3-1) pitched six innings, allowing three unearned runs on three hits. He struck out three and walked four.

The Nationals are 3-12 at home.

Griffin retired the first two Brewers in the first, but Contreras singled and Gary Sanchez and Jake Bauers walked to load the bases. Third baseman Brady House’s fielding error on Luis Rengifo’s grounder let in the first run and Lockridge followed with a two-run single to make it 3-0.

Mead doubled off the wall in right leading off the fourth and scored on a one-out single by CJ Abrams.

Griffin walked the first two batters in the fifth but struck out Contreras and Sanchez, and Bauers grounded out.

Jose Tena led off the seventh with a pinch-hit double, but Milwaukee pitchers retired the next three batters without Tena advancing.

The Brewers loaded the bases on three consecutive singles off Brad Lord with one out in the eighth, and a run scored when Joey Ortiz grounded out on a slow bouncer. Grant Mitchell walked to reload the bases, but Brice Turang struck out.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Saturday the team remains optimistic about the status of pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, who worked 5 1/3 innings hitless innings before leaving Friday’s win with a right hamstring cramp.

“I think he’s going to be fine,” Murphy said.

–Field Level Media

Zavier Gozo and Diego Luna scored in the first half as Real Salt Lake snapped a two-game losing streak with a stress-free 2-0 victory over the Portland Timbers Saturday in Sandy, Utah.

Juan Manuel Sanabria assisted on both goals for RSL (6-3-1, 19 points) who are off to their best start since 2014 when they opened without a loss in their first 12 MLS matches.

Rafael Cabral had two saves for Salt Lake, which avenged a 3-1 season-ending defeat last October at Portland in the wild-card round of the MLS playoffs.

James Pantemis had 13 saves for the Timbers (3-6-1, 10 points) as he kept RSL from turning the match into a rout.

Real Salt Lake dominated from the start as they uncorked seven shots before the Timbers took their first attempt in the 26th minute.

After scoring one goal in the previous 225 minutes entering the game, Salt Lake repeatedly found transition opportunities with through passes against Portland’s careless back line.

Sanabria set up the first goal with a long feed through the Portland defense that found Sergi Solans in stride down the middle of the pitch.

Streaking down the right wing, Gozo ran onto a laid-off pass and fired a right-footed shot from inside the box. Pantemis got a hand on the ball inside the near post but couldn’t stop it as Gozo tallied his third goal of the season.

Real Salt Lake continued their assault as Morgan Guilavogui took three promising shots in a span of seven high-paced minutes.

Pantemis made a save on a Guilavogui breakaway attempt and the RSL forward banged a shot off the crossbar and was wide right on another right-footed blast in the sequence.

Salt Lake broke through in the 28th minute on a one-two on the left side of the box, as Luna took a return pass from Sanabria and scored with a left-footed shot inside the far post for his third goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.

Luna’s goal came immediately after Portland’s lone shots on goal, one minute apart. Cabral stopped a header by Kevin Kelsy, then denied a low-percentage try by Antony Alves Santos.

In the second half, Real Salt Lake slowed the pace, happy to play in a defensive shell, which prevented the Timbers from taking a shot on goal.

–Field Level Media