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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 21, 2007Stewart CinkCARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND Q. Stewart, very well done, 3-under now for the tournament, having started the day level. You must feel good, tied 5th at the moment, you're right back in it? STEWART CINK: I don't know, Sergio is definitely controlling his own fate and also mine and the others who are chasing. He looks very solid right now. As you know, there's a lot of danger lurking on Carnoustie. Sergio hits as ball as well as anyone. He'll have a good shot at avoiding a lot of it. It's a tough finish. Q. We've seen so many of the American players today coming in with good scores, Zach Johnson, Chris DiMarco, and of course Steve Stricker with a new course record, 64. What's the key for you guys out there today? STEWART CINK: I don't think it really has much to do with your nationality out there. I think the wind switched about 45 degrees from where it was the first two rounds so that the holes -- the difficult par-4s that were playing into the breeze where you're hitting 3-woods in, I'm sure it's been chronicled over and over again this week, those holes are now playing well shorter, because the wind is now not dead into you but more cross. The teeth of the course is still there, although the conditions aren't adding to it. I'm excited to have played well mainly. It's not been my best tournament over the years. As much as I have respect for this tournament and I love and I would dearly love to be in contention for the win here sometime, I haven't been there yet. So this week is a real breath of fresh air for me, literally; it's also pretty fresh out here. It's been a lot of fun. I've played decent golf so far, managed myself pretty well, but it's still not perfect. I think tomorrow I'm going to need a round pretty close to perfect, probably, to put myself in there. Q. This course obviously Steve went out and shot a course record today, Stricker. The scores have been pretty low. I know it's soft, but it hasn't lived up to its reputation in a way. Do you have any theories as to why? STEWART CINK: Well, I think the main reason that it hasn't lived up to the super-difficult test that it did in the past, especially the last time we were here, is that the rough just isn't brutal. It can be at times and there's been a few hack-outs, but there's been a few woods played out of it. So it's just a very good setup on a course that is already difficult and doesn't need a lot of rough. You can play golf almost everywhere on the property, here, with the exception of the gourse bushes. And I think it's just a wonderful place to have a Championship. It's a firm test, but it gives you a fighter's chance if you miss the fairways. Q. Yesterday you were in good position, too, going into that back nine and 12 kind of jumped up and bit you. Today you hung on in that closing stretch. Are you a little disappointed in the way you finished yesterday and are you thinking about that at all? STEWART CINK: I'm not, because yesterday when I finished it was probably the toughest the course has played all week. Coming into the wind on the back nine, the wind was picking up pretty significantly. There were some holes that were just playing unbelievably long. I hit lumber into like three holes in regulation. So it's a tough test when the wind blows that way. Today I think the wind switched about 45 degrees, so it eased up on us. It was more across the long holes than dead into us. That really helped with the distance. You could hit a driver down there pretty far and you could get an iron into it instead of a wood. It just made things a little bit easier on the back nine. Q. What about Stricker shooting 64? No matter what the conditions, can you just talk about that score? STEWART CINK: I don't know what to say about that. He's been really turning his game around for the last two years or so and I'm happy for him. He must have put together some kind of golf out there today to shoot that. It's something else to see a guy go out there on a course like Carnoustie in that kind of situation and just keep the accelerator down. I think he should be really proud. Q. Is there a tougher finishing hole in golf? STEWART CINK: I don't think I've played a tougher finishing hole, especially the way it was the first couple of days the way the wind was dead into us. Almost everybody I talked to has hit driver, 3-wood or driver and laying up short of Barry Burn. It's not only long, but you've got the hazard on both sides off the tee and you've got OB fence down the left side. You could almost roll it off the green and hit it out-of-bounds there. You can definitely skull a bunker shot OB from the right bunker. It's got it all. It's got everything you could ever ask for for a difficult hole. End of FastScripts |
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