DORAL-RYDER OPEN

March 6, 1997

Stewart Cink

STEWART CINK: Okay. First of all there's no wind, that's the big factor today. South Florida and there's no wind at all, and everything on the golf course is perfect. So you're going to see some low scores, I think. And, as far as my round, it was kind of a black and white deal. I started on the back and just kind of ho-hummed it there and shot 1-over and came over to the front and all of a sudden it was like I was on fire. I can't explain that, it just happened.

STEWART CINK: 12 was a 9-iron, third shot to about 6 feet, made the putt there for birdie. 13 is -- I hit 3-iron there on 13 and came over a little bit and put it on the path to the left of the green, and didn't get up-and-down for a bogey. And then 15 it was playing real easy today and I got a little anxious on the tee, I guess and pulled my 7-iron there and got a pretty hard bounce, not a bad bounce, but a hard bounce and it went left of the green behind in the rough. It was a tough little chip. I didn't get up-and-down. And then made a good save on 18 from the right bunker. And 18 is probably, everybody is talking about it, it's the toughest hole, without a doubt. And I was in the bunker off the tee. And did a pretty good job getting it up around the green in the sand to the right. And I was looking at that thing thinking this could in the water if I don't catch it perfect. Because the green is so per tilted from right to left. And I caught it perfect. And got down to about 5 feet from the hole and made the putt. So that was a pretty big boost. If I missed that it might not have turned into a good round. And going on to the front, there, No. 1 I hit a 4-wood on the green there in 2 and had about 30 feet for eagle and 2-putted. No. 4 hit a 3-iron to about 20 feet and made the putt. No. 5 I hit a wedge about 6 feet. 7, hit 6-iron about 20 feet. 8 up-and-down from the left bunker, I had a 4-wood to the left bunk area on that hole and made a pretty good up-and-down from the sand and made a 5-footer for birdie. 9 I hit a 7-iron to about 10 feet. And it was -- I had momentum going there, it's too bad the holes ran out.

STEWART CINK: From Nike to the PGA?

STEWART CINK: The transition has gone well, I haven't played too well yet. I'm hoping to get something going in the east, I like the east more than the west. The transition, though, it's just a new city every time. I really have only played about 10 events out here. So far this year everything has been new. I haven't played any of these tournaments. I'm learning my restaurants and hotels and the courses, basically. I'm just trying to start over every week and learn again. But it's going okay. It's not that big of a transition to make.

STEWART CINK: Well, at first I had some problems because it's a new club, and it's not been tested. Actually what we're doing, there's about 10 staff players now, what we're doing is testing. For a while I had a tough time with it. But now they've worked on them and I've kind of done my input with them and we've gotten it down to exactly pretty much what I want. And they're working fine now. I can't imagine any clubs working better than they are now. Not that I'm hitting it perfect, but the clubs are definitely good. And the driver, the driver was always good. Cleveland driver is the best one. But the wedges I didn't have to change to the wedges. At first I was a little anxious about it, a little maybe -- maybe a little uneasy about it. But then in the last three weeks or so it's all been fixed.

STEWART CINK: Actually I don't. I've got my mindful already out here, trying to get ready on all these courses. And I've got a pregnant wife back there. And a three year old. So I don't have time to worry about Augusta yet. I'll worry about that during the week of Masters.