MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 11, 2021

Stewart Cink

Quick Quotes

Q. Stewart, I was working on some of the digital coverage with Kelly Tilghman, and she affectionately referred to you yesterday as the old man. The old man had a pretty good week on this course. Summarize what it was like for you.

STEWART CINK: I think the number one thing for me that stands from this Masters is going to be that my son Reagan was on the bag, and it was just really fantastic. He's caddying for me this season, so it's not like him caddying is new, but caddying at the Masters is a whole different ballgame.

It was so fun to share a lot of my experience and my memories here, and to see all that get put into action when the course was playing the way it has been this week, and he just did a fabulous job. So that's the number one take away for me.

As far as Kelly Tilghman referring to me as the old guy, it's better than not being referred to during the Masters as well. So she can refer to me however she wants to. I don't have any comment about that at all except for thank you.

Q. Well, she was referring to the old man playing pretty well. So that's nice.

STEWART CINK: That's fine.

Q. Let's talk about your son a little bit and the father-son relationship on the golf course. I know you were concentrating on playing golf, but what was he taking in after having heard you and watched you play all these years? Now he's on the course between the ropes with you.

STEWART CINK: Well, he just thinks about golf and about shots out here the same way that I do or Henrik or any of the TOUR players or caddies. He is not a ceremonial son caddying. He could caddie for anybody in the game. He's just really got a great eye for the shots, for the way the ground lays out, the wind, and all that. He knows a good game plan. He's just really doing a great job.

So the father-son thing, that's just a cherry on top of him being a great caddie already, but I'm super comfortable around him. I've got a great relationship with him. And with my other son Connor, too.

But with Regan, in between shots it's easy to sort of laugh, and we have so much in common that we joke about and notice things. At my age, I don't have this boundless energy that I used to have when I was a kid. So I need that little -- I need to switch it on for the shot, and once the ball stops, joke around about stuff. And smile in between shots when there's nothing else going on and then get back into serious business when it's time. He's good about both those things.

Q. In terms of the work relationship relative to your other caddies, how do you divide and conquer? Is he out there in the morning doing the walking and the yardage? What do you depend on for the caddies in general? Is his role any different?

STEWART CINK: I think, because Reagan and I have such a tight bond already, I've felt like I have a little bit of liberty to go a little deeper with the game plan with him than I have with other caddies in the past. So we spend a lot more time than I've ever done with any caddies preparing for the kind of shots we're going to hit on certain pin placements, on certain wind directions, where the tee placements are. We spend a lot more time game planning ahead of time.

Coming into here, we already have a really good game plan set up for every hole location, everything written down. We had a stack of notes and papers with every hole location. He came out early and looked at the day's hole location sheet and basically set every hole according to our game plan on whatever page so that when I got to the course, my yardage book was noted up and ready to go.

I don't need a lot of reminding about a lot around here because I've been around a lot. But it was a great plan, and it worked well, and we stuck to it. A plan is only as good as how committed you are to it, but we were both committed to it. I went through 72 holes. I can't remember one time we deviated from it. It just makes golf a little simpler at a complex place.

Q. Just going to the age thing. We saw Jack Nicklaus win here 35 years ago at 46. You stared down Tom Watson, I think he was 59.

STEWART CINK: I think I remember that.

Q. Yeah, it was pretty exciting. Can a golfer of your age, can you still win a major?

STEWART CINK: I think I can definitely compete and win a major right now. I've never played with the kind of control I'm playing with right now. I never have, and I've been ranked highly in the world. Right now I feel like I've got a lot of good things going throughout the bag all the way down from driver to putter. Reagan is maybe the key ingredient in the key lime pie right now. I feel like I've got a lot of good stuff going on. I'm loving playing golf. Life is in a good spot for me. Lisa's healthy and doing great and in solid remission.

So we've just got a lot to be thankful for at the moment, and that's a big piece of it too. My heart's in a great place to play and enjoy myself. Instead of coming out here and fighting against Augusta National, I'm playing Augusta National and having a blast.