Zach Johnson's Bogey-Free 64 Gives Him Simmons Bank Lead in Schwab Cup Push

Zach Johnson is making his move with two tournaments to go in the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs. The former Ryder Cup captain and two-time major champion shot a bogey-free 8-under-par 64 on Friday to take the first-round lead at the Simmons Bank Championship at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock, Arkansas. Johnson, second to Stewart Cink in the season-long standings, finished birdie-birdie to complete a straightforward day. He rolled in a long putt at the par-3 17th and came close to holing his third shot at the par-5 18th, leaving a short birdie after a 56-degree wedge from 109 yards that spun back to four or five feet. He leads Sweden's Henrik Stenson by one shot after Stenson's 65, while Michael Block, Australia's Richard Green and New Zealand's Steven Alker share third at 6-under 66. The stakes are high in the season's penultimate event: 54 players qualified and 51 are playing, but only the top 36 in points after Sunday will make the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix in two weeks. Stenson, who began the week 41st, is projected to jump to 20th, while Block, whose approach bounced off rocks by the lake and up onto the fringe before a closing birdie, is projected up 16 spots to 27th.