MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2022

Stewart Cink

Quick Quotes

Q. You had two big celebrations today, your hole-in-one and it's Reagan's birthday. So tell us about the hole-in-one, and then also what you're going to get for him.

STEWART CINK: I already got him the hole-in-one. That's the extent of my birthday present. I gave him the ball. That should be enough, right?

(Laughter).

No, it was the same kind of hole-in-ones you'll see there on that hole over the years. It was up against the hill and it came right back down. The neat part about it was, as the ball got closer down to the hole, I knew it was going in because the patrons in the front left all were watching it online and they knew it was in, and they all got up. When they got up, I knew it wasn't missing. So that was cool. It was really neat out there.

This golf course and the tournament, it's just a wonderful environment anyway. So to have something like that happen was really something I'll always remember for sure.

Q. What were you hitting with?

STEWART CINK: It was an 8-iron.

Q. How many aces do you have on TOUR?

STEWART CINK: I don't know. You'd have to look that one up. I don't know. That's public information, and I do not know. I may have five, six, or seven. I don't know, something like that.

Q. When it came off the club, did you think you had a shot?

STEWART CINK: I knew it had a shot. It was the exact right shot I wanted to hit. The way I do things with my approach shot, I don't just try to hit a number, I try to hit a zone of numbers, usually like seven to ten yards of space. On that one, I knew to push it a little further back because that bank brings the ball not only left but also back towards the tee.

So that extra couple yards is exactly where it landed and it hit my spot. It was the exact right curve, perfect contact. Sometimes they say you skink one up there.

Q. It was a perfect shot.

(Laughter).

STEWART CINK: I have no other words. Usually a lot of times anyway, you hear it was kind of a mis-hit or whatever. This was not a mis-hit. This was exactly the way I would have drawn it up. It was like a dream shot.

Q. There have been a lot of hole-in-ones at 16 the last five years, six years. What do you think -- there have been throughout history, but there have been more in the last couple of years. What do you think that's from?

STEWART CINK: Well, I think the hole-in-ones are mostly luck for the ball to go in the hole. But for a bunch of really good golfers to hit the ball really close to the hole and do really close to what they're hoping to do on a shot is not luck. That's a testament to the skill level that's out here now.

I think that when you have players doing exactly what they want to do a little bit more often on a hole like that when the hole's down low, you might get more aces.

Q. So you heading to Harbour Town next week to defend your title? This is a pretty good shot to kind of --

STEWART CINK: To be honest, I'd throw the hole-in-one ball right in the water if I could make the cut and compete for two more rounds, but I'm missing the cut. That stings more than the hole-in-one. It doesn't boost my spirits like missing the cut hurts my spirits. I absolutely loathe not playing here on the weekend, and it hurts.

Although the hole-in-one was a really special moment, overall I'm pretty bitterly disappointed. I had a good feeling about this week actually coming in, but it's not going to happen.

Q. Next week at Harbour Town, what do you expect there?

STEWART CINK: I'll have a couple weeks to stew over it and get my attitude back right again, and maybe even wine, and watch the guys on TV. But once I get to Harbour Town, it will be completely a new -- I'll turn a new page, and I'll be ready to fight again. I love playing there. It might be second to here, as far as how much I love playing the course.

So I'll be ready to go next week and back at the starting gates with a chance to compete again. I can't wait.

Q. With your experience, your predictions for the week here, what could happen? Do you see Tiger being up there? What do you see?

STEWART CINK: Well, the course is difficult, really difficult, and I don't know about the weather the rest of the way, but I think it's going to continue to firm up. It's amazing how much it already firmed up since all that rain. So I don't expect it to be a super low scoring Masters as we've seen so far. Scoring's not that low.

So it's anybody's ball game out there, but when it's playing tough, experience is even more of a factor. So I wouldn't be surprised at all if experience rises to the top. Who knows, maybe Tiger. I don't know what Tiger shot today. I don't know.

Q. He's been up and down.

STEWART CINK: Oh, he's out there playing right now.