Rory Sabbatini stepped away from the game after missing the cut at the 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship. Although he never officially announced his retirement, he did not compete professionally for the next two and a half years. His absence was not due to any injuries on the outside. Rather, the injury was internal after years of stress from competing at the elite level.
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“I retired for about two and a half years and rarely even played golf, and I think I needed it,” he said in a press conference on Sunday. “Mentally, I needed the break from golf. It takes a toll on you. I wasn’t even sure I was going to come out on Champions.”
Despite his reservations, the South African-Slovak golfer decided to give the game another shot. After turning 50 in April 2026, the six-time PGA Tour winner took the plunge and joined the PGA Tour Champions, taking advantage of his past champion status to make the move. And so far, Rory Sabbatini admitted that he has been enjoying his time on the senior circuit. However, he is not particularly a fan of every aspect of his decision.
“Then I was like, I’ll give it a shot,” he added. “It’s been enjoyable so far. I’ve really enjoyed getting to see a lot of the guys I used to play the Tour with. At the same time, I really didn’t miss the competition. It’s days like today, man, they’re stressful. But it was — again, it’s fun to win, but it’s tough. You’ve just got to keep grinding and keep trying and hope that door opens one day for you.”
It’s understandable why Sabbatini isn’t a fan of competition. Professional golf is a lonely, high-pressure pursuit where every mistake rests on the player’s shoulders. Missing the cut can mean walking away empty-handed after a week of work, while travel costs, caddie fees, and relentless tournament schedules add to the strain. With so much time alone with their thoughts, golfers can easily overanalyze mistakes and feel the weight of every shot, especially when their livelihood is on the line.
Regardless, while Sabbatini’s stress has returned, it has come with a lot of success as well. Since joining the Champions, the 50-year-old spent the summer knocking on the door with a series of strong performances. In his first 14 events on the tour, he recorded a runner-up finish at Pebble Beach in the PURE Insurance Championship and tied for third at both the American Family Insurance Championship and the Kaulig Companies Championship.
Those consistent results set the stage for his breakthrough victory at the 2026 Stifel Charity Classic.
Rory Sabbatini reflects on incredible end to his final round
Sabbatini delivered a spectacular performance in the final round, firing a tournament-record 9-under-par 62 to overcome a four-stroke deficit on the back nine. He played his final four holes in 5-under par, closing with an eagle followed by three consecutive birdies to finish at 14-under par and defeat Darren Clarke by a single stroke.
“Obviously when you get in those stretches, it’s not very common, it’s a rare occurrence,” Sabbatini said about the final four holes. “I think the toughest part of that is staying out of your own way and letting things happen. Just like you try and explain to an amateur golfer, you start thinking about a round, and that’s when things go south.
“You just try and focus one shot at a time and try to stay present in that moment. It’s really tough to do, but when you do it, things can happen in a crazy sense.”
The victory marked Sabbatini’s first PGA Tour-sanctioned win since the 2011 Honda Classic and made him the first Slovakian golfer to win on the PGA Tour Champions. It also gave his season a significant boost, as the Stifel Charity Classic serves as the opening leg of the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. The win propelled him to No. 7 in the standings, putting him in a strong position heading into the next stages of the postseason.
That said, it will be interesting to see how the PGA Tour veteran manages the pressures of the senior circuit. And whether the stress of competition will eventually catch up with him again, as it did two and a half years ago.