	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

WGC CA CHAMPIONSHIP

March 20, 2008

Stewart Cink

MIAMI, FLORIDA

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Stewart Cink into the interviewer room here after a 6-under par 66. Great playing out there. Let's just get some comments on the day.
STEWART CINK: Well, thanks. First of all, it was a solid day for me. I hit the ball really well all day. I stayed patient. You know, you have to hit the ball solidly out there in this wind. It's not blowing like it was the first two days of practice for me, but it's coming from a new direction, and the golf course is a whole new course today. You have to be ready for all the different kinds of shots and control your trajectory, and all that starts by hitting the ball solidly, and I did that most of the day today.

Q. Just talk about how anxious you are to put yourself back in that situation again to have a chance to win a tournament on Sunday.
STEWART CINK: I'm very anxious to do that. I feel like I let that one go on Sunday at PODS, obviously. I think everyone probably agrees. It's just one of those things that you need to get back in the fire right away and test yourself and keep on going. If it takes 50 tournaments for me to win another one, then I'll be happy with the 51st.

Q. You must be pretty good at putting stuff behind you. I mean, here you are again.
STEWART CINK: Yes and no. It's difficult because the memories linger from that. I mean, I gave it away. But I learned from it, too. It's part of the process. You have to try to -- let me just say that not everybody out here is Tiger Woods, okay? He's making it look easy, and it's not easy.
But I'm learning from it, and I'm doing some good things in my game, just trying to keep on doing the same old things and letting it happen. I'm not going to force it.

Q. You said you learned something. Is that what you learn, not to force it?
STEWART CINK: I didn't force it there. I didn't go out there trying to force it. It just got away from me a little bit there. Overall, even though I didn't perform as well as I wanted to and win that tournament, I handled myself well. I didn't completely lose my emotions and get out of sorts and all that stuff and go crazy. I felt like I kept a lid on it and it just didn't work out for me. So I'm anxious to get back in there and allow it to happen this time.

Q. I'm trying to remember some of the quotes that you said after Tampa. It seemed like you were inordinately hard on yourself and questioned whether you were lacking the killer chromosome or something. Does that work better for you? Do you inspire yourself by kicking yourself in the pants, or maybe you are just looking for answers.
STEWART CINK: Well, you have to do a little bit of both. You can't just paint a rosie picture and expect everything to dissipate.

Q. Well, some guys do.
STEWART CINK: Well, those guys aren't being honest with you. You have to be honest with yourself, first of all. That mirror sometimes when you look into it, it's not pretty. And sometimes you just have to -- you've got to wrestle with a few things out here, because golf is such a game that happens between your ears that it's always -- all your shots are -- you always hang on to them, and it's hard to let go of the good or the bad.
I was hard on myself there because I was upset with myself, but that was at a time I think right after that round when I was very upset, and I let it show. I've had a little bit of time to think about it and practice and think about maybe what I can do if I get back in this situation again soon, so I'm looking forward to the practice.

Q. What does Butch tell you after something like that? Does he do any mental massaging, or are you guys pretty much just straight on swing?
STEWART CINK: He's pretty much straight on. He's not a big mental massager. He kind of shoots straight with you.
I think we all kind of saw that last week. Butch is a straight shooter. He's not going to mix it around too much.
There were a few things with my swing that Butch noticed that I already knew that were happening because I went back and looked at the tape right away and saw all my shots. That's one good thing about being in the lead is you get to see yourself hit every shot, good and bad. I learned a little bit about my swing. It's a tendency -- a little bit of tendencies in there that I need to probably address, that I have. It's not like it's going to go away right now, but sometimes the golfer that's feeling a little bit of heat performs a little differently than the golfer that's just at ease. The swing and everything is just a little bit different. It's all about learning how you react in those situations, and you can't always fix your mechanics right away, but you can allow for the tendencies.

Q. Is it hard to stay patient sometimes when you play well like this run you're on because you can't wait to go do it again or is that not a factor?
STEWART CINK: It's hard to stay patient when you're playing well because you have a tendency to look ahead and think about where your opportunities are coming up, like the par-5s, for instance. If I'm on a par-3 and I can two-putt and I can go on to the next hole, I'm almost always thinking -- I should say I'm almost tempted to think, the next hole I can rip a driver down there and have an iron to the green and get an eagle. That's not exactly where your mind needs to be when you're playing this game. Conversely, when you're playing poorly it's not good to think ahead. There's some shots out here that are pretty frightening, some of these tee balls and par-3s.

Q. Was this a tournament that you watched a lot on TV when you were a kid? Was this an event you had a feel for growing up?
STEWART CINK: I remember watching it a little bit. I remember Norman with his wild outfit making an eagle chip. And I remember Faldo making -- I think he made a strange par on the last hole out of the water with a wood or something to the green to win. That's about it.
My tournament was The Masters growing up that I always watched. I was always outside playing myself, so I didn't to see too many tournaments on television.

Q. What's your favorite Masters memory?
STEWART CINK: Jack Nicklaus, 1986. Second one would probably be Tiger in '97. That was one to watch, too, even though I missed the cut there.

Q. Do you recall a better streak of sustained good play than the one you're on right now, which goes back to January?
STEWART CINK: Yeah, 2004 I had a couple streaks that were better because I had some wins in there. I had a couple stretches where I didn't finish outside the Top 10 for four or five tournaments in a row inside that one year.
I've had some good stretches like this in the past, but I'm just happy to be on another one. I don't really see it as a stretch. I feel good with my swing. I feel like my tempo is in good shape, and it's producing good shots. And the score is just sort of a derivative of that.

Q. When Tiger is playing so well, as he is right now, do you find yourself when you're done with the round just kind of sneaking a peek or seeing what he shot today just to kind of get a reference as to the guy you may have to beat this week, so you know where he's at?
STEWART CINK: I hadn't thought about it until just now when you brought it up. Yeah, I'm sure by the time I go to the golf course tomorrow I'm sure I'll know exactly what Tiger shot, not because I'm trying to stay ahead of him. You can't really play that game. I had a guy, a reporter, ask me a question this week about whether I feel like I need to settle a score with Tiger from Match Play when he beat me so bad in the finals, and it was a gentleman that I don't usually see out here, a face that I'm not familiar with. I just don't think that's really a part of golf. You don't settle scores. You don't try to get back at somebody because of something they did to you in the past.
This is a golf course where you have to play the course itself and just try like heck all the way until the very last putt. If you've done it in less strokes than everybody else, congratulations. Otherwise you have to go work harder.
JOHN BUSH: Stewart, play well tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297