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WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 20, 2004

Stewart Cink

AKRON, OHIO

CHRIS REIMER: Stewart, maybe start off by talking a little bit about the first round, 63, and what was going right for you.

STEWART CINK: Well, nothing went wrong. I guess that's what went right. I had a lot of quality shots out there. This golf course is very demanding, really, from tee to green, and on the greens it's just a test of everything you have pretty much. I was pretty much in control off the tee and hit the ball in a lot of fairways, and when I missed the fairways it was just in the first cut or in playable areas, so I was able to get the ball up around the greens or on the green and have good birdie putts, so I was looking at birdies all day and made quite a few of them, putted well. Just the hole was looking big.

Q. Does your good play this week have anything to do do you have any sense of relief that the Ryder Cup selection process is behind you? Do you think that's part of is it this week?

STEWART CINK: I do feel a sense of relief that that's over because that is just a lot of stress, but I don't think that being selected for the team has anything to do with me playing well because I've been playing pretty well since around July, since the 1st of July. I think that to play well here has just been indicative of that, but it is a nice relief about not having to worry about making points or who's going to get picked.

Q. Do you feel like you're, for lack of a better term, a mudder? Do you like playing in the wet conditions? Has it helped you?

STEWART CINK: Playing in the wet conditions I think has helped everybody because the ball has stayed in the fairway. You don't have balls bouncing out. Wednesday when it was really dry, the fairways were extremely difficult to hit because they're all tilted one way or the other and it's difficult to hit those fairways. Now the ball pretty much stops when it lands.

It plays longer, too, but as far as would I consider myself a mudder, I don't think I would necessarily. I like playing golf, period. If it's raining out then I have to play golf in the rain. I've never been a huge fan of being out there holding an umbrella up and sloshing around.

Q. How disruptive is it to have to come back tomorrow? It's obviously not your regular routine. Is it a big problem? Is it relatively easy? Do you change your game plan? How do you handle coming back?

STEWART CINK: It's really just like finishing up one round and then starting a new round. We're used to doing that. My first shot tomorrow is going to be with my putter instead of my driver. It's not totally disruptive. It's part of the game. We're used to it, it happened. You have to be ready for it on a day like today when you see the forecast.

Q. Does somebody like David Toms have any kind of advantage having finished and not having to be out here until the third round starts?

STEWART CINK: He has an advantage because he gets to sleep in more, but as far as golf, no, I don't think he has any advantage because the course will be nice tomorrow morning. It'll be wet, but it was already wet. The greens will be nice and smooth. There's really no advantage either way.

Q. What kind of putt do you have?

STEWART CINK: I have about a 25 footer downhill for birdie.

Q. You weren't standing over it or anything, were you?

STEWART CINK: No, there was casual water all over the place on the green. There was no way we could have played.

Q. You said in the first round you were in control. Can you get into how you played the second round?

STEWART CINK: I hit a couple shots off the tee a little crooked, a few left, a few right into the rough but was able to save some pars. A hit of lot of shots on the greens from the rough, and I had a great chip in on 10 right before they called it, so that was a nice one.

This delay actually might be good for me because I had hit a few good shots less than perfect and not quite up to the standards I'm used to hitting them, so maybe tomorrow morning I'll get out and recapture the magic.

Q. Was that putt downhill or downstream?

STEWART CINK: Well, it was downstream, so I guess that means down green and downhill and really fast, but not at the time I left it.

Q. Do you have to do anything different preparing to go out when your first shot that putt?

STEWART CINK: No. The only thing you might do is find a putt on the practice green that's similar and maybe hit two or three, but not really. The speed of the greens here don't change very much. They're really not going to be slower tomorrow because it rained because they were already wet.

Q. Rookie question. How did you mark your ball?

STEWART CINK: How did I mark it?

Q. Yeah.

STEWART CINK: I use one of those old the old time markers with the plastic nub. My mom uses those, and I always use those, and I don't know what started me doing it, but I've been using those for a few years. I think I picked up a few at The Masters.

Q. What happens when they mow tomorrow?

STEWART CINK: Well, they'll I don't know. I think they usually just see the marks and they pick them up and mow and replace them back where they were, because I've also got two tees stuck in the green.

Q. Those will have to come out.

STEWART CINK: I think they mow the grass and then put the markers back where they were. Everybody on the green around the course that's out there, they know where their balls are located because just in case the marker is gone, you have to be prepared for that, so you take a yardage and you figure out how far in the fairway rough.

Q. You have to step it off?

STEWART CINK: Yeah.

Q. You don't just check ShotLink (laughter)?

STEWART CINK: You could.

Q. Because you're leading the tournament, do you have to dial in more mentally because you're stopping and the conditions are changing and the elements are changing around you? Do you feel like you have to dial in more mentally?

STEWART CINK: I don't know about dial in more. It's a little bit more difficult start stop when you're in the lead because you have time for your mind to be won wandering and you start thinking about stuff. I think it's easier to dial out, just think about I'm not watching golf, not reading newspapers, I'm just going to come out here tomorrow and resume like I did today.

Q. Getting back to this plastic nub marker controversy, does anybody else use them? Has anybody ever commented, any other players, giving you grief?

STEWART CINK: A few players give me grief I hear comments having to do with moms, my mom uses that, your mom, et cetera. But one time I got a couple from Castle Pines with the two birds, and I was using it, and I was playing with I don't remember who, an Australian guy, maybe Rod Pampling, and his ball had been marked and I had chipped on the green near his and marked, and I noticed he had the same exact plastic nub Castle Pines marker.

I haven't played with anybody who uses one except for one time, and it was the exact same one I was using.

Q. It's kind of considered not cool, isn't it? Most everybody uses coins, right?

STEWART CINK: Most everybody uses coins, but in the past I've had a couple coins stick on my putter when I tapped it down. It can stick on there. If you do that, that's a penalty. That's actually one of the reasons I started using it, just to see if it would do that, and it doesn't stick.

Q. What do you have today?

STEWART CINK: I've got a mixed bag usually, I've got a Colonial, I've got a couple of Masters but they're getting pretty old.

Q. Aren't they metal?

STEWART CINK: They're plastic.

Q. You don't have a ball retriever in your bag, do you?

STEWART CINK: I don't have a ball retriever.

Q. Did you go to these for some superstitious reason?

STEWART CINK: I started using one at The Masters a few years ago, and I think I had a good putting round, and not that I'm superstitious that that's the reason I'm having good putting rounds, but I think seeing The Masters on the thing down there, for a while there, it reminded me of the way I was thinking when I was playing there. I used to have a Canadian $2 piece, I think it's called a "Loonie," and on one side it had a bear, and I used to used that for a long time because it reminded me of the way Jack Nicklaus focused on his shots, so the same theory focused transferred onto the Augusta National marker.

Q. Pretty deep stuff today.

STEWART CINK: Not much else to talk about obviously (laughter).

Q. When you're not playing well and the weather is like this, you mentioned the dial. Is it real easy to kind of go with the flow, dial totally out when you're just having a bad day?

STEWART CINK: It's real easy to nail it in on a day like this when you've got an umbrella and drips everywhere, it's annoying. It's easy to say, "what am I doing here?" At the NEC Invitational it's not easy to say "what am I doing here" because everybody is proud to be here, but it's easy to thinking about when is my flight out of here and when am I coming back but not here because it's such a prestigious tournament.

Q. (Inaudible).

STEWART CINK: I wouldn't say it's helpful but it is different. We usually play two rounds with the same guys, but a lot of things about this tournament are unusual because it's a small field, no cut. Thank goodness, this tournament from some other ones. It's awesome.

Q. Do you have any Oakland Hills ball markers in your bag, and how do you suspect that golf course will fit your game? What do you like about it?

STEWART CINK: Well, no because I haven't been there since I started this ball marker thing, and as far as the way it's going to be set up for me, I played well there when they had the Open in '96. I finished 16th in my first U.S. Open. I like the golf course. I don't remember what it was I liked about it, but at the time I liked it. It's a demanding course, a lot like Firestone. Without having seen it for that amount of time, I really don't know specifically what to expect.

I think it's going to be set up similar to the U.S. Open because we should have some pretty good rough and difficult holes. It's a tough golf course.

Q. It rained like here that year.

STEWART CINK: It rained like this in '96? I don't remember that.

Q. It caved that bunker in.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, I remember, we had a big storm.

Q. I imagine when you're playing well like you're playing this week, you would rather get your round over with. Do you find yourself looking at the skies wondering how much longer you have to play today?

STEWART CINK: Before the round I did because I heard that we were going to be finished around 2:00 o'clock, but then as we kept going, you know, you get into your round and you just forget about everything else. We had some rain out there for several holes before they called it, but once you get into it and you've got your task in front of you, you stop thinking about everything else. You're able to put all that aside.

Q. I would assume in a normal tournament, first round, second round when you're the leader there's pressure that goes along with that. Do you feel like you're the leader, and if not, is all that pressure there, is it different because you haven't finished the second round and it's been so disjointed?

STEWART CINK: It's still so early to say that there's pressure because I'm leading. There's really not right now. It's still just way early, you know. The pressure doesn't start to build up until later on in the third round and into the fourth round and then it starts to get a little bit tense.

Q. If it's like this tomorrow, does he get the Crestor challenge?

CHRIS REIMER: I don't think they have that at this tournament.

Q. A couple guys, Ernie and Vijay, came in this week, depending on how they played to go to No. 1. One is at 8 over, one at 5 over, Mickelson is at 5 over. Do you wonder despite the magnitude of this event that there could be some fallout from a very tiring week of, A, winning or being in contention, which is sometimes even tougher?

STEWART CINK: Yeah, it could be, and I've been in that position before where you have a mentally grueling week where you're in contention on a hard golf course and then the next week you sort of almost have like a blowout and find it hard to concentrate. I'm sure that's what those guys are having right now because they're three players that are really a lot better than 5 over and 8 over par. If they come here, if they come to this tournament, and maybe if they're having a tough time concentrating here, then to me this tournament is a big tournament, too. I know it's not a major, but the World Golf Championships are huge to us. I mean, they're just premier events, and to win one, I think you just put yourself up a little bit higher. I don't find it hard to focus for these.

Q. If there was one particular part of your game that's carried you to this point, what would you say it would be?

STEWART CINK: So far this week it's been my putting. I've made a lot of good putts and feel very comfortable on the greens. I'm hoping that I can continue to do that and just continue to stay comfortable and relaxed because I've been very relaxed out there, too.

Q. Just curious, you're ranked No. 1 in putting still, aren't you?

STEWART CINK: I think so. I didn't know that until I heard all this Ryder Cup stuff.

Q. Do you feel like the No. 1 putter on Tour?

STEWART CINK: Yeah, I do, because I really think of myself as one of those guys that every time they putt, it looks like it might go in. I miss plenty of short putts, too. I accept that as just something that happens in the game of golf, and I don't beat myself up over it.

Q. Have you always felt like one of the best putters out there?

STEWART CINK: No.

Q. When did that change?

STEWART CINK: I used to think I was, and then I went through a period of time where I was pretty tough on myself for making mistakes, and that's where I learned this new attitude and this grounding that I've been able to achieve and went through a period of time where I didn't feel like I was very good at anything out here, and luckily I've been able to put that behind me now and now I feel like I'm pretty good at most everything. It feels good.

CHRIS REIMER: Thanks, Stewart.

End of FastScripts.

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