CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 27, 1997

Stewart Cink

STEWART CINK: 17, well, first of all, hitting it up there, you know, I wasn't too pleased. But it wasn't that bad a shot off the tee, just happened to catch the path. May have rolled back down that hill if it wasn't for so many people. Standing there with the yardage I had. I went back a little bit to yesterday hitting the same club over the green from that rough on the right side there, just off the fairway about two or three inches, and I remembered the flier that I caught. So I thought this would be the same, that if I just hit the ball somewhere on the club face, that it would fly enough to get it over the water. Really, that's all I was concerned with. Because I knew if I carried it on the green, it wasn't going to stop on the green. Really came off just perfectly. It landed just short of the green and popped up there on and made a good two-putt.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, the thought went through my mind. But I was in that situation, you know, and who knows if you're never going to be there again. I wasn't going to lay up there and try to make par. I was going to push it up there and try to get it up on the green. If I knocked it in the lake there trying to win the tournament, just how it is. I wasn't going to be disappointed with that. But as it turned out, I took the right club and I stayed with the shot enough to get it up on the green and it really payed off.

STEWART CINK: He was totally with me on that. He wanted me to make sure I had a good enough lie, first of all, to do it where I had the confidence I could get it to the green. We knew the 9-iron was the right club because of yesterday. So he was a hundred percent behind me on that decision to go for the green.

STEWART CINK: It was 138 to the front, 148 to the hole, which normally for me a 9-iron is about 140. So, I had to get a little bit of a shooter out of there to get it to the front, which it did.

STEWART CINK: I didn't see a leaderboard from No. 9 all the way through 15. Not by me not looking at them, I just didn't see any. I wasn't really paying attention to that. I was trying to play my own game. I saw the leaderboard on 15, and I noticed that Maggert had gone to 14 under and I was 13. And, you know, on 15, I had about an eight-footer for birdie there and didn't make it. So, you know, I started thinking I needed to make a birdie there. Because I really didn't expect Maggert to go 15 to 18 over par. As good a player as he is and as hot as he is lately, I didn't think he would do that. So, knowing that I was tied, I guess he hit it in the water on 15; is that right? And then made par?

STEWART CINK: Hit it in the water on 15 and then made par. So I knew we were tied. And I knew my chances were better trying to hit it over the water to make par than they were trying to lay up and then save par. So if I had been one ahead -- it didn't matter, I would have done the same thing with the same lie and everything.

STEWART CINK: Well, I won four last year, tournaments.

STEWART CINK: Oh, yeah. You know, every round of golf you're in that situation five or six times. Maybe not where it's so much on the line.

STEWART CINK: Yeah. I remember a couple times back in the past when I was close to winning the tournament and I had that type of shot and sometimes you succeed and sometimes you go for it and you miss. I can't think of any time I was really on the side hill lie in the rough downwind to a front pin. (LAUGHTER.)

STEWART CINK: No, that -- what can you say? The shot just came off perfectly. Landed on the upslope short of the green and bounced up there and I 2-putted.

STEWART CINK: It probably cleared about five or six yards, I guess.

STEWART CINK: In the air I thought that's got enough to get right to the front. In the air I thought that's perfect. Then the thought always comes in your mind what if it's short?

STEWART CINK: But, you know, it landed perfectly.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, from the water to the green there's about six yards of grass going upslope and, you know, I didn't really get a good eye on it. It probably carried within a yard or two of the green.

STEWART CINK: The shot was soft. If it landed on, it would have stayed on. I didn't think when I standing over the shot that I could keep it on. But the way the shot came off, it came off with a little spin, so it would have stayed.

STEWART CINK: I really thought that I would -- that I would be playing more, because the 18th hole playing downwind, it's really just a totally different hole than it was Thursday and Friday. I hit an 8-iron in there. I'm sure other players were hitting short clubs in there. I didn't think that Maggert would hit it off the fairway. Apparently that's what he did. That's really the only thing that can hurt you there on 18 is to hit it off the fairway. And, you know, I guess he did that and then from there you've a really tough par. Because the rough is pretty thick out here, and if you're not in the rough, you're in the sand and the bunkers are deep and all that. So, I really thought I was going to be playing more. I expected either Jeff to knock it in fairway and make at least a par, if not birdie. When Tom knocked his close for birdie I thought he might roll it in because the greens are good.

STEWART CINK: With that crowd out there, you can pretty much tell what's going on down there on the green. Some of the guys, of course, some of the people in the gallery were becoming my friend and telling me what was going on.

(LAUGHTER.) I didn't know who was right or wrong. I was getting about ten different stories. I did decipher that Maggs had knocked it over the green in the rough and that Byrum had hit it about 12 feet. Is that about right?

STEWART CINK: He told me -- after Jeff had chipped onto the green and had a long par putt, that's when David came up there and told me. He told me Maggert had about a 40 foot for par and Tom's got a birdie putt. He was standing there beside me while we listened for them to putt. Both times the reaction was exactly the same both times. The ball obviously just missed.

STEWART CINK: To look I would have to go and stand in the scorer's tent. And I was preparing to playoff. And I was trying to keep my feel on the greens.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, you know, he hit a good shot on 18, and it could have been better. It was a good shot that didn't really end up as good as it should have. Not kind of like mine. My flyball really stuck there on the front of the green, and his ball kind of bounced on. You know, his putt was a very tough putt. Probably the hardest putt. Is that where Tom was?

STEWART CINK: Hard putt. Hardest putt on that green today. And I was -- I was just happy to be finished and knowing I didn't do anything bad, that I stayed with my game plan and kept my focus. And then when Brandel missed his and he finished one behind me, I wasn't wishing him bad at all because I really thought somebody else would be tied with me.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, ten was really big. That was -- my iron shot there was a little bit of a miss to the right. And I got it in one of those little chipping areas that they have so many of out here. And my lie was iffy, so I didn't really want to chip it, because it was a tough shot anyway. I figured the best thing to do was putt it over this big mound with fairway-height grass and down onto the green slipping straight down. Somehow it came off over that mound perfectly on line. It rolled from the fringe. It never was offline, it went right in.

STEWART CINK: Well, she said -- after the second round Wayne Levi was ahead of me by seven shots, and after yesterday he was only ahead of me by two. So I made up five on him. You know, she said why can't you make up four on the leader today? I said I don't know, why not? Why can't I? I know I'm not going to go out there and play conservative today, I know that. I went out and started well. The key on a round like today, the key is to get off to a good start. And I did that. I birdied the first two holes and, you know, played pretty good on the front nine, made four birdies. And then held it in there when I needed to.

STEWART CINK: No, because the third hole there, the green is not as good as the rest of the greens, it's slower. So I had about a 60 footer for birdie there out of the fringe. Didn't really know exactly how hard to hit it. Maybe that's like a preparation, I don't know. But the one green on the course where you have to secondguess your speed, and I hit it 60 feet, and I left the first one about eight feet short. You know, it just happens. You can't play all 18 holes perfectly. And I was disappointed with that bogey, but it was very early. And I still played pretty well, you know, first two holes. So I still had a lot of confidence.

STEWART CINK: What was the first part of that?

STEWART CINK: Well, yeah. I got a lot of good memories from here. This was my starting point as a pro, and I like the golf course. I've played well here that last time. I finished top 20 there in '95. And the golf course seems to fit me pretty well. I really like the way it's designed. The greens, I like them. I like the greens a lot. Just some places, you know, you play great even if you maybe don't have your A game with you, you play great. Other places you can't. Memorial, I can't play that course. I play -- I never have played a good round of golf there in my life. And the other -- the whole field seems to play well. Just one of those things about golf.

STEWART CINK: No, I wouldn't say that Ernie has, because he's been playing as a pro for quite a while.

STEWART CINK: Justin, yeah. Justin winning last year, you know, it's kind of same age as I am now. Yeah, I played a lot against Justin in college. I played with him a lot. I know his game a little bit. We've known each other for a while. And seeing him come out here and win and seeing the way he won. You know, he won the tournament in Michigan last year, he won it, you know, like a hero. And this year, at the Kemper, he kind won that one kind of a giveaway type win. So just showed me that, you know, there's more than one way to win. You just have to hang in there and be the last one standing. Kind of like today.

STEWART CINK: I triple bogeyed the hole last week and missed the cut, if that tells you anything. Yeah, golfers, you know, when you come as far as we've all come on this tour, we've been through it all just about already. Last year, if there's a time in a tournament when I was coming close to winning and I should have won and I didn't win, it was probably the most recent was in Boise last year, the Nike event. I shot 62 the second round and I was leading. Third round I played pretty good and I think I might have still been leading. But then I had the golf tournament with three holes to play, and had a wedge shot on my -- into a par four, hit it right in the bunker and made bogey. Had a 4-iron into a par five on the next hole and made par. And then the last hole I had an 8-iron to the green and hit it in the left rough and had to chip -- try to chip it out of the rough to a win. There's a tie. So yes, that's the kind of situation he's in. I guess he's probably secondguessing maybe the decisions he made off the tee. I don't know if he was trying to hit a certain type of shot. But he will definitely -- next time he's in that situation, he'll remember that and he'll gather his focus and make sure he's right there on it mentally.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, I was disappointed. But at the same time I set a goal for myself when I got out of school in June of '95 to play well enough from then through to the Q-school just to give myself a place to play and have an exemption somewhere, whether it's the Nike Tour or anywhere just to have a place to play. And after Q-school, having not played too well there, I was happy, because I satisfied my goal. And for a 23-year-old, and at that time 22-year-old, I guess I just turned 23 in May last year. So as a 22-year-old coming on The Nike Tour, that's what the Nike Tour is designed for. I was happy. Got myself a place to play, and I played great last year. So that experience from last year is really going to mean a lot to me. Like it meant the world today having those four wins last year and drawing back on those.

STEWART CINK: I think I may have been better off.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, I got a lot of experience out of it. Confidence, I wouldn't say I got a whole of confidence out of it because I already had a lot of confidence when I went there. But experience playing with Ernie and Tom in the third round and being in the last group and playing pretty well, just didn't finish great. I saw how those guys play, and I think that those two -- there's probably a group of about six or seven players in the world who are up there just a little higher than anyone else, and those two are definitely in that group. And Tiger. You can pretty much name them all. But seeing those guys play and how they work under the pressure of a major and seeing what they were thinking and seeing how their shots reacted, that was -- it was quite an experience for me. And I learned a lot from it.

STEWART CINK: Well, you know, a lot of times the tournaments out here on the tour with this caliber of players, the guy that's leading -- the score that's leading on the tenth hole may not even finish in the top ten. And this time when I -- I think I tied for the lead on ten. Is that right? 13 under?

STEWART CINK: Well, you know, I ended up winning it by myself with eight pars the last eight holes. And that doesn't happen very often. So next time in that situation, you know, if I go out there and if I'm through ten holes the last round and I'm tied for the lead and I hit a couple birdie putts close and miss them, you better believe I'm not going to be getting down on myself because I know how it turned out this week, it may turn out that way some other week.

STEWART CINK: It was playing tough. The birdie holes really, with the exception of 15, weren't there. The pins were -- Tim was downwind and an easy pin. 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, those were the -- well, 18 was playing easy as it can play. But the other holes out there, the pins were in tough places. And the wind, I think the tour kind of got lucky, but the wind was blowing the worst direction for the holes. Anytime you got fast greens and the wind is traveling the same way as the slope downhill, the greens become harder and faster, and a lot more delicate. So that's the way it was going a lot today. Your downhill putts were downwind in the back nine.

STEWART CINK: The course played worlds differently. I mean, for instance 18, I hit 2-iron in there both days the first two rounds. And, you know, today an 8-iron. That's the difference. The wind switched around it and it got warmer. Really, the only thing -- I didn't really adjust anything to it, because you play one shot at a time no matter what the course is giving you. And you have to predict how the course is going to react to your shot. I played one shot at a time. And I stayed in that game plan. So I didn't have to adjust my game at all for the course change in conditions. But it did change. If you didn't notice the change or didn't take note of it with your playing on your shot, then I don't think you did too well.

STEWART CINK: I think for a lot of 24 year olds -- you know, my case I'm happily married and got kids that are great. So I'm -- I've got part of my life very, very, very, very settled, very settled. A lot of 24 year olds don't have it very settled. As a junior in college being married, it really helped me to manage my time enough to where I could practice for a short time and get a lot out of it, because I had a lot of other stuff going in college and so did she. But being a dad early and being married really, as far as my golf, it helped me focus. Because I knew, you know, I don't have this -- I don't have the luxury of going out there and freewheeling it and giving it a shot. Because if I fail at this, then I don't have really -- well, if I failed, then I failed for three people in addition to myself, not just myself. So, you know, I had to think about that. It was like being part of a team instead of an individual. It's been great. My personality is really calm, it's not up and down like some guys. And, you know, it's just -- for golf it's ideal. Because out here in this game you can't let your emotions take over. And I've been through some things that make a five-footer lie seem pretty easy.

STEWART CINK: My son Connor is turning four in about six weeks, and my son Regan is about three-and-a-half months old.

STEWART CINK: My parents both play golf, yeah. Both of them are about ten handicaps. Neither of them are ever pros, they just both love and they like playing.

STEWART CINK: They started me. They left me on the putting green when I was too young to play when they would play 18 holes. So I did nothing but chip and putt for four straight hours every day while they played.

STEWART CINK: Florence Country Club in Florence, Alabama.

STEWART CINK: I was anywhere from five to eight. And when I was eight I was able to play on the course.

STEWART CINK: Me.

STEWART CINK: Well, there was enough people around that I knew if I did anything wrong that everyone would see me. I had fun playing like I was Jack.

STEWART CINK: Always throughout watching golf on TV and everything the guy that I pulled for has always been Tom Kite. And just -- is that funny?

STEWART CINK: I think Tom is a great guy, but --

STEWART CINK: Yeah, two years ago Lenny was my favorite guy. No, seriously, Tom Kite has always been kind of the one guy that I've looked up to and respect a lot. And that's been ever since I was ten years old. He just kind of embodies what golf is and what pro golf is. And he's obviously a great player and done some great things. And his habits, practice habits are kind of what I've patterned mine after. So Tom Kite.

STEWART CINK: You know what, my dad taught me how to play golf out of Hogan's five lessons. So he touched my life a lot, indirectly albeit. So his passing has been the top news story this week in golf. And I think it kind of symbolizes the passing of an era and what a great era. Hogan was the man of his time. The man.

STEWART CINK: My son?

STEWART CINK: R-E-G-A-N.

STEWART CINK: Other than just learning fundamentals out of his book, no. Although, his mindset about playing golf was a lot like what some of the sports psychologists teach today. You know, people don't think much about Hogan being a thinker, but he had quite a mind.

STEWART CINK: I didn't even know I did that until last year in The Nike Tour Championship. I was given a clinic with Eric Johnson out here. He said if you watch Stewart when he hits his driver, he lifts the club head above the ball before he takes it back. And I was like I do? So I don't know why I do that, to be honest with you. I do it because I guess it's comfortable.

STEWART CINK: I'll never forget this day. Because to win -- to be the very top out here on this tour with these fields out here -- it's an accomplishment. And it stays with you your whole life. The level of play out here is so high. To be the winner of a tournament, wow, it's amazing.

STEWART CINK: I play one shot at a time, like I said before. From Thursday the first hole all the through the last hole today. Why would I play any other way than that? That's the best way to get a score as low as you can get. Every shot I'm totally focused on that. I'm not thinking about on 17th tee, hey, if I can par these last few holes, I going to make my biggest check ever. That's how you lose. I don't -- I don't play for anything except just to do my very best on every shot.

STEWART CINK: Honestly, not until probably the U.S. Open or maybe Westchester. I started playing a whole lot better about in May of this year. I had a terrible stretch from -- well, from January really on in through April, just terrible. So I was working on my game and trying to find where I was last year. You know, I played good last year. So I really didn't think I was ready to win until about six, seven, eight weeks ago. And then now I got my confidence back and, you know, I feel like I can compete. And a lot of times winning isn't always being the best player in the field, it's just a couple things go right here and there, maybe a couple things go wrong for the other guys here and there, you know. It's a fleeting thing, you know. It's not like you can -- not like you can pick a guy out. We all know that, you can't pick a guy out and say he's going to win this week.

STEWART CINK: I don't know. It's hard to say. Just generally more focused a little bit. You know, better mental preparation and staying with a good mental game plan.

STEWART CINK: Not in the dip. In the dip, nobody. I just -- I did at lot of going back and thinking how I was thinking last year when I finished in the top 10 14 out of 21 tournaments. And felt like -- I had a meeting with Rotella, Bob Rotella this week on Wednesday morning, and I remember telling him there was a point last year when I thought I had this game figured out so well that I thought I could not lose. And that is honest to God truth.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, it's a funny game. Last year I was knocking the world down and winning a lot. And, you know, if I wasn't winning I was always in the top ten, it seemed like. And this year, you know, I can't seem to put -- I couldn't seem to put my finger on what it was that was keeping me going. Maybe now I got it back a little bit.

STEWART CINK: No, I've changed equipment all this year back and forth. I was using some Cleveland clubs early in the year, then I went back to my old clubs TCI, now I'm back to a mixed bag. I've got my short irons are all Clevelands and my long irons are all TCI Titleist.

STEWART CINK: I'm using one Callaway wood and one Cleveland wood. So it's mixed up.

STEWART CINK: Well, yeah, life's -- some of life's experiences, you know, you just -- out here on the golf course it's just a game. You know, going through the child birth twice and seeing how that, you know, unfolds and such an unbelievable moment. But, you know, being out here, you know, make or miss a putt, you just can't put too much emphasis on one little thing out here. It's just a game.

STEWART CINK: It doesn't really compare, because that's a miracle of nature. And that's bringing into the world a person that we created. That's, you know, unbelievable. Out here, this is doing something, accomplishing something you prepared for your whole life, or at least really since I was about 17. Really worked toward playing out here on the tour and winning tournaments. And it's just a culmination of a lot of work, a lot of patience, a lot of resources, everything, a lot of emotion. Just all kind of just -- it all just, you know, makes itself like a knot inside you forever, and when you win it releases all that good energy. It's just gratifying.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, I'll probably walk in the locker room with my shoulders a lot higher. It's not going to change the way I'm going to play golf. It may change, you know, the way you guys want to talk to me. I'm sure the media will probably be a little more interested in what I'm doing these days because of this. But I'm not going to change anything about the way I'm playing. I just won the tournament. Why would I change anything?

STEWART CINK: Yeah, as if I didn't know already that I belonged out here, you win a tournament, you do belong out here now. I mean, I've beat the whole field. You know, maybe some of the best players weren't here. But I guarantee you, there was a lot of good players here, just like there are every week.

STEWART CINK: Of course I do. We're all competitive and we want to win. But golf is not like some other sports in which, you know, the enemy or the loser gets trash talk. I mean, I feel for him. You know, he won a tournament back in, I don't know what year it was he won, but he won one tournament. What a player. He's a great player. He's a more experienced player than I am and probably a more solid player than I am. But on the one hole where he needed to do it, he just didn't do it on 18 there. And I know how he feels. And it shouldn't be too long before he gets one.

STEWART CINK: When Brandel made -- yeah, that's -- yeah, that's the kind of thing there, we're competitors, but anytime you see something like that happen, you know, you've got to laugh a little bit about it and, you know, congratulate the guy. That was a great shot there. Looked like it was going to sink in the hole all the way.

STEWART CINK: Yes, he's two years older than me. We were teammates for two years.

STEWART CINK: Well, my freshman year when he was a junior, he was the number one guy and I was four or five all year. And then when he was a senior, I moved up to two, and I was number two right behind him all the way. And I was an All-American that year too, just like he was. So that's how we lined up in college, yeah. Hole-by-hole?

STEWART CINK: One was probably one of the tougher holes today. It was straight against a pretty good wind and the pin was in a tough spot. I just hit a really good drive and really good 5-iron about two feet from the hole. And I laced it in there close, and it made it kind of an easy start. Nice short little birdie putt. Two was straight against the wind, and I hit a driver which kind of differed from my game plan from the rest of the week. I've been hitting 3-wood there. I hit it a little to the right, bounced once on the cart path and went straight in the trash can. Right in the trash bag. It was funny because on the tee, I hit the ball and I was looking at it, you know, hoping it wouldn't be in the bunker, hoping it would stay out of the bunker. And it bounced. And all the people around the area just put their hands up like yeah, started screaming. I didn't know why. Actually, I thought it went on the fifth green. I didn't know how close we were to the green, but I thought it went on the fifth green. Get up there, it's in the trash can. So I took a drop there. And I dropped it in the rough. Had -- only had a wedge in and hit it about 15 feet and made the putt. So Brandel was saying that -- you know, it's a saying on the -- for the players to say, you know, you can get it up and down from the trash can if you've got a really great short game. Well, he was saying I really did get it up and down from the trash can. And then on three there I had my only bogey, and that was, you know, wasn't a very good iron shot from the fairway. 7-iron pushed it out to the right and had a long putt, and 3-putted there. Six, I hit a sand wedge in there about 12 feet, made the putt. Nine, I hit a sand wedge in there too for about 12 feet, made it. And then 10 we discussed already. I hit a 7-iron out of the fairway just right of the green. Had to go up over a mound. And really just kind of trying to get it close and fell in. It was nice.

STEWART CINK: That was probably about 35 feet from the hole, yeah, and 15 feet of fringe to go through. And no more birdies.

STEWART CINK: I did miss a couple of short putts. I hit it pretty close on 13 about six, seven feet there and missed it. I misread that putt. And then on 15 I chipped it up there about eight feet and pushed a birdie putt. Missed it right.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, I couldn't really put a finger on what was -- my physical game what was great. I mean, I hit a lot of fairways. I hit a lot of greens, but didn't hit a lot of great iron shots. Chipping, I didn't really do a lot of chipping because I was almost every green. My putting was pretty good, but could have been better. But where my game stood out this week as opposed to how it has been is my mental approach to how I was playing. And just stuck with every shot one at a time and didn't get ahead of myself.

STEWART CINK: We just talked about trying to dig in my psyche and trying to figure out what I was thinking back then and last year when I was playing so well. And basically what it came down to was just concentrating on one shot at a time. And my wife, really, she's no sport psychologist, but she really -- she pointed out, you know, about a week or two ago. She was like, you know what, it looks like you're thinking out in the future more than you're thinking in the present. And I started thinking, you know what, you might be right. So in talking to Rotella and, you know, he kind of concurred. And I didn't even mention that she had said anything. He basically said it sounds like you might be paying a little too much attention to the leaderboards and not taking it one shot at a time, and when you're preparing for the course, you're really not preparing mentally, you're not really preparing yourself to go out and win the tournament, you're just preparing, you know, for what happens if you miss or, you know. So, he basically just reaffirmed the fact that I need to be staying in the present one shot at a time, stick to my game plan and don't try to do anything I can't do.

STEWART CINK: I haven't gotten the bill yet.

STEWART CINK: Maybe a little bit bigger after this week.

STEWART CINK: I used to talk to him in college quite a bit. He would work with our team at Georgia Tech. And since then, as far as, you know, talking to him about my game and about my thoughts, first time I've talked to him since I was a pro, really. That's the first time I've had a meeting with him and discussed my game.

STEWART CINK: In person.

STEWART CINK: Oh, yeah, it was right here. He was here for -- until Friday. He was here -- he comes out with some of his big -- his full-time players. I don't know what to call it. Faxon is one of his big guys. He comes out to visit with those guys. Other players take advantage of him being out here.

STEWART CINK: Hour-and-a-half morning breakfast.

STEWART CINK: I'm sorry, I can't understand what you're asking.

STEWART CINK: Statistics?

STEWART CINK: How do I look at statistics?

STEWART CINK: How much store do I put into the stats?

STEWART CINK: Yeah, I measure with yardage, distances.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, we all have one of these, orange book. It's got all the yardages in there that you'd ever, ever want.

STEWART CINK: No. My caddie last year used to use a laser, a laser to pick up the yardage. But that's what this book has, laser. See last year on The Nike Tour, we didn't have these. We had to do those.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, the tour -- I don't know if this is public information or not. The tour put a white dot for the next day. My caddie takes a good look at that every day, every hole. So, he knows the slope, he knows -- you know, the --

STEWART CINK: I'm sorry? Yesterday, yes, every hole. So he knows where the pin is and where the bad places are and where the good places are. All the caddies do that.

STEWART CINK: Okay. Sure. Thanks guys.