BUICK INVITATIONAL

February 13, 2004

Stewart Cink

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 63 puts you at 11 under for the tournament. Let's get some comments on a great round.

STEWART CINK: It was a great round. The ball was going in the hole and they were going in the fairway off the tee. This course, this week especially, the north, you used to have to worry about the spin so much. It's so dry now you can stick it right on the ball mark and it's the perfect way to play. But then again, the ball is rolling off the fairways into the rough. You have to drive it better and you don't have as much forgiveness off the tees as you used to.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about your round yesterday. 2 under on the South Course definitely keeps you in position going into Friday, so talk about your round yesterday.

STEWART CINK: Yesterday, I played at least as good as I did today, believe it or not. The score doesn't indicate that. Yesterday the fairways were hard, the greens were hard, and the pins were difficult. And this South Course here is a major championship caliber course. I know that it's easy to say that with the U.S. Open here in four years, but right now I think it's a major championship caliber golf course. It's a difficult course. It's long. You can't miss it. You have to hit your shots really well. Yesterday I played well. I finished well and I knew that everything under par yesterday was going to be a great round.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: Well, you have to be more aggressive, but the North Course just allows you to be more aggressive. You don't have to change your mindset. You have a lot more wedges. You'll have shorter shots to the greens so you can aim more at the flags. It's less severe around the greens so if you miss the greens you'll have an easier up and down. It's not that it's an easy golf course, but going from the South to the North, you have so many shorter shots that you feel you can't help shoot a better score.

Q. Do you prefer going from the South to the North?

STEWART CINK: I actually do like going from the harder course to the easier course. It simply makes the easier one seem easier. I like doing it that way. I've never thought about it, but I think you're right.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: Yes, it does surprise me a little bit. The caliber of play is so good out here. One thing that's not surprising is most of the scores came from the North Course yesterday, so they're now out there battling on the South, and it's very hard to move out.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: There is, but there weren't as many low scores that went over to play the North today. I haven't seen the scores that much. I saw the first ten or so names. I'm surprised somebody hasn't come up with a little better score.

Q. Do you have to kind of talk to yourself before the round and tell yourself to not to try too hard to go low on the North?

STEWART CINK: You do, that's right. You talk to yourself and you convince yourself that every par is not a bad score. Even if it's on a par 5. I parred the first hole today. I had a 3 iron to the green out of the middle of the fairway and made par. That's almost like a bogey considering that I was hitting 3 irons into par 4's yesterday from the middle of the fairway. But it's still it's not the end of the world. You have to take one shot, one hole at a time. You can't let yourself get down over even if you make bogey out there I feel like at the Bob Hope I get down if I make bogeys, because that kills you. Here, it doesn't kill you.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: I think that he said something earlier that probably led to this, when you guys were asking about the streak earlier this week and he said something like, I wasn't aware of it and I'm ready for it to be over. In a way, that's true. I had a streak like that going, not as near as significant as Vijay's streak. I had 17 straight rounds in the 60s, so everybody started asking me about it. Well, I was just like him, I was ready for it to be over. One day I go out and shoot 76. The streak was over. I didn't have to think about it anymore. Vijay is probably glad it's over. He can go back and focus on nothing but playing. I don't know that it really led to him missing the cut or not, but golf is tough sometimes and even as well as Vijay has been playing, you can't stay at the top forever.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: I don't know what he shot.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: Well, you know, I stole one there, for sure. I got hosed a little bit off the second shot because it kicked off the side of the bank and went shooting through the green there. It was a pretty decent shot. Then my chip ended up wildly breaking off to the left and going down that hill. That was the hardest putt I faced all day, a two putt, much less knock it in. It didn't even touch the sides. I stole it. There's guys out here that steel things like that all the time. So I'm not going to be embarrassed about that.

Q. Talk about your play, the changes you made mentally.

STEWART CINK: Well, I've discovered in the last year, year and a half, just a new calmness, and I really have been able to reduce my anxiety. I was playing with a lot of anxiety out here and worried about every shot, worried about the cuts, worried about where I was finishing. It sounds silly, but I can't really describe it to anyone who has not been out here doing this. I really tried to work on lowering my level of stress, my anxiety and my fear. I've talked about this before in the past. I'm playing out there, I'm playing a game. I'm having a good time playing and I'm not too worried about where my shots are going. I'll hit some bad shots. I'm ready to accept my shots wherever they go.

Q. (Question about the Ryder Cup.)

STEWART CINK: I think it's more than ever. It's on my agenda because I had such a great time playing at the last one and we lost. I went into that Ryder Cup playing probably at the low point of my eight years on Tour, as far as my level of form, and I would really like to have another shot at it. I think I can play better than I did there. With that team coming up in eight or nine months, or whatever it is, I really I really feel I can be a real asset to this team. I didn't really show it last time, although I did win a match with Jim Furyk, but I would just like another crack at that Ryder Cup.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: That's exactly what I'm leaning toward. I didn't see any of that. But I can identify with that, for sure. Before, I was thinking this was the end of the world. It is the end of the world. That's no way to treat yourself. I've got to be fair to myself out there. I have control over about 20 percent of where my shots go. After that, the ball, the wind, the bounce, the grass, all that stuff, it plays out the shot. All I can do is what happens over the ball. That's called staying in the present. If I can stay in the present, then I have a lot more calmness and less stress and I'm able to perform at a little bit higher level. I think that's what Tiger was getting at, a more expanded version of what he said.

Q. Was there a low point (Inaudible)?

STEWART CINK: Yes, it was The Masters. Well, I didn't play last year, so it was the last one I played, in 2002. I was having troubles, just hitting bad off the tee, putting terrible. I basically just faced myself in the mirror and said, What are you doing? Why are you worried so much about what you're doing, whether you are going to miss this three footer or miss this fairway. I kind of just took a big step back and looked at the whole picture and realized I was just being way too hard on myself.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: I don't remember. I know Duvall said something about vertigo. I don't remember when that was. It wasn't anything physical with me, not at all. It was just mentally. I was putting too much stress on myself and trying to be perfect. I was trying to control everything. I had my hands on the steering wheel a little too tight.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: No, I stopped seeing a sports psychologist.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: No, I think that was more of a symptom of what I was going through.

Q. You were already going through it?

STEWART CINK: I was already there. That didn't help it very much, obviously. I was already there and I was already experiencing difficulties, and just playing through it and thinking, well, everybody is probably playing through the same stuff. Now I don't really think everybody is. I think the guys that play well are the ones that are the most calm. Your ability to control your nerves and your heart rate, that's a big part of playing this game at a high level.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: I have had help. I've been talking to someone, to go back to your question. I stopped seeing a sports psychologist and I started seeing someone more of a general someone to help me with my whole life, not just sports, but I figured if I got myself in order outside the game, I would have a better handle on what's going on inside the game. I stopped seeing a sports psychologist. I started seeing a regular psychologist.

Q. I saw an interview where you said you were one of the great underachievers out here. Do you remember saying that?

STEWART CINK: Yes, I've said that a lot of times.

Q. Do you still feel that way?

STEWART CINK: Yes, I do. I feel my talent level I understand the game pretty well, as well as anybody else, and I think I could have done better so far. I've had a good career; two wins, they felt great, and I've been on the Presidents Cup team and Ryder Cup team. I've been a lot of places where golfers haven't been able to get. I just want more. I feel like I could have achieved a little bit more out here. That's all part of moving forward and trying to accomplish all those goals.

Q. What's the story on the hat?

STEWART CINK: The TP hat? A kid, yesterday after the 9th green, was asking for autographs when I got finished and he had these TP hats. There is a course in the town I grew up called in Turtle Point, TP. I thought it was a pretty cool hat and I needed a white hat. I don't have a hat deal out here. I have got the best deal going. I can wear whatever hat I want to. I asked him where he got them, and he said he got them in the golf shop. So I went to the golf shop and bought two, one black and one white, and there is no discount in there for players.

Q. Why don't you have a hat deal?

STEWART CINK: I don't know. I don't have a hat deal. I used to have one with Deloitte & Touche, if you guys remember that, for seven years and they got out of golf. That was at the end of last year and I haven't been able to secure anything.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEWART CINK: Well, my church youth group is called Break Free Ministries, and one of my best friends at home heads it up and I have been wearing a hat that has that logo on it. I have a charity tournament called The Healing Place Charity Championship, and it's held at Turtle Point, not Torrey Pines, TP. I've been wearing that. And I have an Atlanta Flashers hat that I like. Whatever I feel like wearing that day.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go through your round. No bogeys today. Started on the front side. Birdied No. 2 and No. 3.

STEWART CINK: We already went through the par on 1. It was disappointing.

I had a 15 footer on 2.

Hit about two or three feet on 3 with a 9 iron.

8, I hit a bad drive on 8, but got a good break. Good lie and good angle, hit it about eight feet with an 8 iron and made that.

9, I missed the fairway but was able to get it up near the green, about 40 yards short of the green, and made a really good shot there.

10, I was in the fairway, hit it about three feet with a wedge.

14, I was just in the first cut going for the green in two, hit a little left with a 3 wood and made a really good pitch out of the rough about a foot from the hole.

And 15, I was in the fairway and hit an L wedge about five feet.

And 16, drove it up the middle and had about 60 yards and hit that about 10 feet short and made that one.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Did you hit a lob wedge there?

STEWART CINK: Yes.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about your chip and ensuing put.

STEWART CINK: The pin is right on the crown on 18, and if you go left you'll fall off to the left side. If you go right, you're going to fall off to the right. Coming out of the rough chipping downhill, it's really difficult to control where your ball is going to go exactly. My ball kicked a little left. I just thought it was going to end up six or eight feet left of the hole. It just swung down and kept on rolling and rolling. Anyway, I left myself a 25 footer, very awkward too, right up against the fringe. I had to go up the side of the shoulder. Like I said before, I stole one there. It was a long bomb and it came at a great time.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Any more questions.

Q. The size of the gallery seems to increase when you are at the top of the leaderboard? Are you aware of that at all?

STEWART CINK: Today on the North Course with the leaderboards, you don't know if they're accurate or not because they're manual. I had an idea I was up near the lead with the last four or five holes, but I don't really pay attention to that. I try to play every shot as it comes.

Q. Are you aware of more people showing up to watch you?

STEWART CINK: Not very many people showed up. A few cameras. When the TV cameras come out, you know you're probably fairly close, especially Thursday and Friday.

Q. Had you a pretty good chance on 17.

STEWART CINK: I hit it to about six feet on that hole. That was one of my poor efforts of the day. I misread it and mis hit it. It looked awful coming off the putter. Like I said before, you can't make everything. All you can do is hit them and go find them.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.