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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL

August 27, 2006

Stewart Cink

AKRON, OHIO

CHRIS REIMER: Runner up for the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational, Stewart Cink. Just talk a little bit about what it took to come back and get into the playoff.

STEWART CINK: Well, it took a lot of patience I think was maybe the thing because I just couldn't buy in the putts out there. And then in the past maybe I would have gotten a little frustrated and tried to force it, but I just knew that everything was going okay, just the ball wasn't going in.

So patience paid off, and I made a couple really nice putts on 16 and 17 and really 18, too, just to tie.

You know, it was a case of there was highs and lows out there all day. Unfortunately I finished on a low, but there was a lot of good things, too. I'm pretty proud of the way I played. I felt like I had my chances.

Q. Did you think your drive on 17 was okay when it left the tee, and when you got there I'm assuming the rain started to come down. I'm wondering how much that affected it?

STEWART CINK: I thought it was okay when it left because the wind was off the right, and it sort of fought against the wind and ended up going a little through the fairway. So I was a little surprised it ended up in the rough. It wasn't that bad a lie, and actually I thought when I first got to the ball, I thought it was in between clubs, and a regular with no rain or anything, a 9 iron would have been a lot of club, but there was no way to get a wedge to the green.

I told my caddie as it was pouring and we were huddling under the umbrella, I said I thought a wedge would be okay. I think I underestimated how much yardage to take off because it didn't even come close to carrying the bunker. It probably played 15, 18 yards longer than normal conditions with all that rain.

I'll chalk that up to experience and maybe next time I'll add a few extra yards when it's pouring like that. No regrets. I hit a good bunker shot. It was just kind of an odd time for that downpour to happen. Tiger handled it fine. That's why he won.

Q. The bunker shot looked like it might have touched the cup?

STEWART CINK: No, it was about three or four inches left to the cup. It landed right next to the cup, but it wasn't right on line, it was just a little bit left and actually would have taken extreme luck to have that ball end up in the hole because it was flying.

Q. What's going through your mind after Tiger left his short on 18, and did you think when it left your putter it was going in?

STEWART CINK: Well, you know, I was there last year or the year before, and on the last hole of a tournament. I was not in contention, but I was on the same line and had about maybe two feet closer, maybe about six feet, and my putt snapped off left, and that image was still in my mind.

Golfers, we don't forget anything. We always remember all of our shots. We might forget our anniversary now and then, but we don't forget any shots (laughter). I knew it was going to break left. When Tiger's ball slowed that much, then I thought maybe the cup was cut in slightly different elevation because there's a change of slope there in that swale.

But I just did what I knew how to do and that's pick a line and commit to it and trust it, and I did. I probably gave it well, as you could see where the ball finished up, I gave it about a ball too much break and I overrespected it a little bit too much and it finished up high. I thought it was okay because I had that image of the ball breaking to the left, and it never really did. That was really my as it turned out, of course, that was my real chance right there because Tiger was already in the hole with bogey and I've got a chance for par, and unfortunately I couldn't convert and he did, and that's why he's got the trophy right now and I'm in here.

Q. One other question. Earlier on 18, it might have been the first or second hole, I think Tiger's approach shot went wide left and he had the downhill lie. Your shot going in, what was your thinking there because I think you pushed it a little bit left, too?

STEWART CINK: I was thinking there with him in that position it would be easy, I think, for a less experienced player to play really conservatively there and try to go for par, but I was playing against Tiger Woods, and he doesn't really make very many bogeys. So I knew that I had to play like he was going to make a par, and if I wanted to try to win the tournament there, I needed to try to play aggressively, and I did.

Also, you have to factor into that shot the huge tree that's in the way. If I went with a little punch shot to the middle of the green there, it wouldn't have gotten up high enough to go over the tree. I would have had to aim 50 feet right of the flag and put myself in three putt territory. Going with the information I had on the shot, the characteristics of the wind, where Tiger's ball was, that was all part of the recipe. I figured it was all part of a regular shot just like a practice round or something, and I went with pitching wedge. I would do the same thing again except I pulled it just a hair and the wind was blowing left to right and didn't touch the ball, and I expected it to come a little right, but it didn't and ended up just off the green.

Q. Obviously it isn't the outcome you wanted, but certainly going toe to toe with the best player in the world in a playoff?

STEWART CINK: Yeah, it was great out there. I felt like I don't know if they were behind me, but I felt like I had a lot of support out there. That was great. It's usually new they are there for me. Usually I'm the sort of under the radar guy in the group, and I felt like people really got behind me when I made those two birdies on 16 and 17. They were looking for somebody to challenge Tiger, and I was able to do that today. It was a great environment, a lot of energy. Outside maybe the Ryder Cup and a playoff in a major, there's really no better environment to play in with more electricity in the air.

Q. Does this mean he gets a better seat on the plane tonight?

STEWART CINK: He'll probably be in seat 1A no matter what (laughter).

Q. I wonder if you could talk about Tiger and Phil both being on a plane when I guess they had previous commitments that they rearranged?

STEWART CINK: Well, I think it says a lot about everyone's commitment to the team, and the fact that we had originally ten players going and now we have 12, I think that says an awful lot about everyone's desire to go back and compete really good in this Ryder Cup and give it our best shot. I really think our best shot, if we come out with eight cylinders pumping and put our hearts into it, I think we win the Ryder Cup by a big margin.

Q. One more thing about the playoff. When you get past a hole or two, are you almost like the longer it goes, the more pumped you are?

STEWART CINK: You don't really. It really doesn't change hole to hole in a playoff, not like it does in regulation. You've got the pressure there and you want to win, obviously really bad, you can taste it. But there's not the same you've got only one guy to beat, and you're either first or second. It's almost pedal to the metal and let's go.

I think that's the way we both played. Even in a playoff it's a difficult place to play. We didn't really make many birdies until Tiger made that one on 17. It's just a tough place to perform under pressure because the golf course is difficult.

Q. You said you left that ball outside about a ball out, and you thought that was your chance and you didn't get it. Did that weigh on you after that?

STEWART CINK: No. I mean, I'm saying looking back that was my chance. At the time obviously I thought I saw that I had a chance to win with that putt and I didn't make it, so I was disappointed. But I knew I had more golf to play. It certainly didn't affect anything on the next hole. It was gone out of my mind once I walked off the fringe there.

I was saying looking back that was my chance. You don't know how many chances you're going to have to beat Tiger in a playoff in your career because of how good he plays.

Q. This was ten years to the day when Tiger turned pro. I just wanted to see if you could put into perspective some of the numbers he's compiled in ten years.

STEWART CINK: Well, he's beat my prediction. I told everybody he's going to have a hard time getting his card (laughter), so he beat that. He outdid that prediction.

No, he had a bunch of sponsor exemptions and everyone was saying, Tiger is going to do this and that. I kept reminding them it's not an easy process to go through when you only have five or six tournaments to get your card. I think he ended up winning one or two and ended up getting in the TOUR Championship. I stopped making predictions about Tiger at that point and I'm not going to do it now.

Q. Did Tiger say anything to you afterwards or even during the playoff?

STEWART CINK: Not during the playoff other than we both respect each other's good shots and we compliment each other's good shots. All day long that same thing happened and it didn't stop in the playoff.

At the end of the tournament when he won, he was complimentary and real quickly just said good fight, good game or something like that. I don't remember exactly. I was pretty crushed when I lost.

He's always extremely professional, good guy to play with. I love playing with Tiger, I love watching him play, I love being in his group on Sunday because it usually means you're right there in the hunt. I can't say enough good things about Tiger Woods. I've been playing with him since I was about 17, and I just relish another opportunity to go against him in another playoff sometime. I think it's the real pinnacle of where our sport is right now, and I was up there for a little while.

End of FastScripts.

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