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WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 21, 2004

Stewart Cink

AKRON, OHIO

CHRIS REIMER: Here with Stewart Cink, three-round leader, three straight rounds you've now been in the big chair. How does it feel.

STEWART CINK: It feels great every time I come in here, you know. There's a reason for it. Early in the week I was here for the Ryder Cup selection, and then the last couple days I've been in here because I've played decent. I'm happy to be invited back any time.

Q. Stewart, last week Vijay Singh made a putt on the 18th hole in the third round that he said was pretty crucial to get that extra stroke. How important was that chip-in today on 18 for you?

STEWART CINK: We'll find out. It's hard to say because we've still got a lot of work left. It was exciting, and it's nice to finish off with a birdie, but there's still a lot in front of me. I've been around the Tour eight years now and I've played a lot out here, and I know that anything can happen in 18 holes.

I'm definitely not counting my chickens yet.

Q. The weather was definitely improved today, but it looked as if the golf course played very difficult today.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, it did. The weather was improved because it was sunny, but usually when it turns sunny the wind picks up and we had a little front come through, so we had a northerly breeze today and it was a cool breeze and it was blowing the ball a good bit, so club selection and the trajectory was important. It was of huge importance today out there because while the greens are soft, they were playing lift, clean and place still. It's just a really challenging course. It's a difficult place to play.

Q. Are you playing better now than back in April when you won at Harbor Town?

STEWART CINK: It's hard to say. I was playing really well back then, too. I had a good stretch where I had a lot of high finishes. Lately I've had a lot of high finishes, too. I'm doing a lot of the same things and I'm putting well just like I was then, too. I think I'm playing about as well.

Q. It lipped out there today on 4, 6, 14 and then on 18, but around the green you were using your sand wedge, you had three good up-and-downs, three good sandies and then the chip-in on 18. On 5 you saved a good shot there with your sand wedge. Was that the shot that set up the round for you today?

STEWART CINK: I think the answer to your question was definitely my short game saved me today just like it does in any round where you're near the lead. You're not going to be perfect on a tough course like this when the wind is blowing a little bit. You're not going to be perfect with your ball-striking. I did have some good up-and-downs, some good bunker shots. When you can convert those missed greens into pars and do it regularly, then you will have a lower score. That's pretty obvious. The more you can do that the better off you're going to be against these guys. There's not going to be a whole lot of mistakes made, but when you do, if you can save them, it keeps your round going, keeps you confident.

Q. I know you don't want to say the 18th chip-in, whatever the magnitude is, but when did you think it had a chance to go in? It rolled like 20 feet or something, didn't it?

STEWART CINK: It rolled a long way, and there's a hump behind the flag so I had to go up and over the side of the hump and it was going to break left. I had picked out a spot to land the ball and it almost landed exactly there and it crept up over the hill like I wanted it to. I knew it had a chance and it didn't have a chance of missing.

Q. You're standing on the 17th tee with a two-shot lead. Did you fathom it would be five by the time you walked off?

STEWART CINK: Probably not. I didn't expect anything like that to happen. I don't know who did what, but I was aware that I was ahead by two shots at 17, and then when I looked up on the board after I chipped in on 18, I saw that there was no one else at 8 anymore. David Toms, I think. He double bogeyed the last hole?

Q. Yeah.

STEWART CINK: That's too bad. I didn't know anything like that had happened. I was doing a good job out there in my own little bubble.

Q. (Inaudible)?

STEWART CINK: I thought that's pretty cool. That chip-in just got me a five-shot lead.

Q. Could this be possibly the most rewarding week of your career, if, in fact, this pans out and you win tomorrow, coupled up with the fact that you were selected to the Ryder Cup team?

STEWART CINK: Well, it's already been pretty rewarding no matter what happens tomorrow just because of that selection. Hal Sutton put enough faith in me to choose me to be on this team out of all the other guys he could have picked, it's a reward on it's own. I would love to finish this one off and play great tomorrow. That would be rewarding, too, but so far it's already been rewarding.

Q. Taking that sort of a lead into tomorrow, is it going to affect how you go about your strategy in playing tomorrow?

STEWART CINK: No, it won't, because the golf course is set up so tough. The rough is extremely deep and thick, and it demands a certain kind of game to be played here. You have to try to hit the fairway on every hole and you have to try to hit the ball in a good, safe spot on the green. You can't be firing at too many flags here because the penalty for missing is really pretty severe. All week this week and every time I've played here in this tournament I've used the same basic strategy, and that's firing towards the middle, not away from the flags but towards the fat part of the green, and just take my chances with the putter because I feel like I'm putting very well right now.

Q. It's not going to make you more defensive knowing you've got that sort of a lead?

STEWART CINK: No, I won't be very defensive tomorrow because that usually doesn't win tournaments. I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow and staying aggressive and focusing on one shot at a time and just staying in my own thing will be my No. 1 priority.

Q. You said yesterday you were feeling pretty relaxed. I just wondered how you felt and did making that 25-footer when you came back out there this morning help you?

STEWART CINK: Oh, yeah. Well, I think that was more of a product of feeling relaxed than it was something that helped me be relaxed. I just have felt relaxed all week. The Ryder Cup race is over, and I'm playing golf again for the individual tournament instead of trying to make the team. All these guys that were in the race with me, they all said that all along and I said it a bunch of times, I'm not playing for the Ryder Cup, I'm just trying to play The International, I'm just trying to play the Buick Open, but the truth is I was trying to make the Ryder Cup team, too. Now I don't have to do that tomorrow. It's easy to be relaxed and go out there with a fresh green that's been cut. I was very relaxed over that putt, and it was a good one.

Q. There was mention on television that you haven't had a lot of success when you've led going into the final round. How different are you as a player than some of those other instances?

STEWART CINK: Well, I am a different player now than I was then, and I don't remember the last time that I was in this situation, but I've just worked really hard mentally with my swing and my whole game. I've really just worked hard, and trying to overcome the fact that I haven't won when I was leading, that's just another step that I need to take, and hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to take it.

Q. A lot of people have hailed you as one of the best putters on the PGA today. This week has been no exception. Do you remember any time that you've putted better than you have this week?

STEWART CINK: Well, I've putted well this week, so I can't say -- I've had a few times when I putted better, like when I shot 21-under at the U.S. Open qualifying in two rounds. That was a pretty good putting day (laughter). That was one of those make-everything days. I mean, inside 40 feet it was hitting the hole or going in. That hasn't happened this week, but I have putted well. I've been trying to stay with my basic routine on my putts, and that's just keeping it simple and not really worrying about the results too much. I know that I'm going to miss putts. It happens. Everybody does it. The difference between now as opposed to in years past is I'm totally prepared to accept any missed putts or mistakes I'm going to make out there, so it's really helping me stay relaxed.

Q. You seem like a pretty focused guy but when Tiger is hitting it all over the map do you try to ignore that?

STEWART CINK: No. I like playing with Tiger because I like to watch him because I think he's just fun to watch. Just like everybody else who comes out here to watch him play, I enjoy watching him hit shots. He did hit a few crooked, especially on the back nine, the front nine, I guess, he hit a lot of really nice drives, but no, where the other guys hit it doesn't affect our focus at all. It's just part of the game. I mean, I've had days where I spray it like that, too.

Q. This might be a three-part question, so bear with me, but do you watch TV, read papers, listen to radio about golf?

STEWART CINK: I do, yeah.

Q. Did you hear any conversation, any debates after the picks were made, here's who we took? Do you get into that stuff?

STEWART CINK: I wouldn't say I get into it, but I don't ignore it. I actually listened to a lot of talk Sunday night after the PGA when I already knew I was picked but no one that was on camera did, so I listened to all the network people talk and heard all the scuttlebutt, who they should pick --

Q. Did your name ever come up?

STEWART CINK: One time. It came up one time. I had a good laugh out of it. I didn't take it as an insult, it's just that kind of everybody had their picks that they thought were going to be done, but I have to get Brandel Chamblee props for calling my name out.

Q. I think you were asked this when you got out to the parking lot Tuesday or Wednesday if it would be awkward seeing Scott or seeing Jerry or whoever else, Todd. Did you ever run into them and was it awkward for you?

STEWART CINK: Everybody who was in the pick race I've spoken to this week directly about that. I've seen everybody else who was involved in the possible picks, I've seen them and we've talked about it. Yeah, it's a little awkward, but the guys have been so nice and they've said "Congratulations, you're the one that should have been picked, go get 'em," and the awkwardness wore off pretty fast when I heard that.

Q. There's no such thing as vindication, I think everyone would agree, Hal couldn't go wrong with any of his picks, but you'd make him look smart, wouldn't you?

STEWART CINK: I guess, yeah, but I'd like to think that what happened before, it was enough to validate that and not -- I have played pretty well all year. With the exception of just a few tournaments I've been finishing pretty high and I've been having some -- I've had good control. It would further validate things, but I'm not too worried about that anymore. I've definitely got a lot of work to do tomorrow. I'm focused on tomorrow -- right now I'm not focused on tomorrow. I'm focused on hitting a few balls and going home and turning on the television.

Q. Are you focused on this interview?

STEWART CINK: I can't lie to you (laughter).

Q. You found your high-tech ball marker on 11?

STEWART CINK: Actually it was gone, and Zach Johnson's was gone, too. I did put a tee in the ground. They push the tees right into the grass and then they cut right over the markers, and because my marker was plastic or wood or whatever, it got chewed up by the mother, so I had to replace my marker, and then I made the putt.

Q. Can we go through your round, birdies and bogeys?

STEWART CINK: Sure. No. 2, I drove it in the fairway, hit a 2-iron in the front bunker and made about a six-footer for birdie.

3, driver in the fairway, 9-iron to about 20 feet.

I had good par saves, too, in there, from 4 through 7, really good par saves, all up-and-downs, either from the bunkers or the edges of the greens. That was a key part of my round right there, when the wind was starting to blow hard and all of us were missing greens there, so it was good to save those pars.

Q. What was your longest putt on those?

STEWART CINK: I had about a 12-footer on 7 for par that I made.

And then going on down to 13, bogeyed that hole. I had just a horrendous lie about four or five yards in the rough there. I maybe advanced it about 30 or 40 yards, just tried to hit a pitching wedge out of it, just horrendous.

And then 18, I missed the fairway by a yard or so, and that's probably the worst thing you can do this week because the rough is so lush, and I had a tough lie, hacked it out, and it actually came out better than I thought it was going to, went through the back of the green, and I had about a 50-foot chip. I guess everybody else knows what happened from there.

Q. What did you hit on 6 or hit into 6?

STEWART CINK: I hit it to the right. I had a really bad drive there, and I had a 6-iron from the trampled grass.

Q. Have you seen rough this long before?

STEWART CINK: Yeah, we've seen rough this long before, but here, I think this is the deepest I've seen it. It's really extremely deep, especially with all this rain. You can't get through it.

Q. Pretty much what you're looking for the week after the PGA, a nice break like this (laughter)?

STEWART CINK: Yeah, I'm pretty much worn out.

End of FastScripts.

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