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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2008

Stewart Cink

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

THE MODERATOR: All right. We welcome the winner of the 2008 Travelers Champion Stewart Cink. Thanks for coming down and spending a few minutes with us. Congratulations first off.
STEWART CINK: Thanks.
THE MODERATOR: Your first win since the '04 NEC Invitational. You moved into third in the Fed Ex Cup standings. Just what's going through your mind right now?
STEWART CINK: Well I think the first thing is I can't believe it was this long since the last one. You know, I feel like I've played well enough along the way to have won a couple but, you know, sometimes when you have to wait a little bit you have to go through a few extra trials and it seem as little bit sweeter. And I think this time the way that I was able to do it, you know, I had the lead all weekend and we had to endure a rain delay and guys were firing left and right. And I just stayed a step ahead, just enough, and then I think that makes it even more sweet.
THE MODERATOR: Talk to us about the up and down on 18.
STEWART CINK: That was a little unexpected. My strategy off the tee was to go ahead and just hit it as far as I could hit it down there. Obviously, I wasn't expecting it to go that far right. Caught the path and ended up with a short yardage but difficult with wind straight down, out of the rough. I wasn't exactly sure about how the ball was going to come out, and it came out quite a bit faster out of that rough. And it flew a little bit.
So did expect really to be over the green there, but coming back off that fringe and it was just all feel. You know, I had to gauge how much the downhill was going to take it, but how much the fringe was going to hold it up. Then there was also quite a bit of wind into us.
It was just one of those where you just had to trust your instincts and just feel it down there. And, honestly, when it hit it, I thought I left it three or four feet short and it just kept on toppling and toppling and toppling and got down there pretty much in tap-in range.
But it just -- to stand over that last putt even though it was only, what, two-feet long and knock it in the middle and have this thing wrapped up, it was a great feeling.
THE MODERATOR: Great. Thanks. Question s?

Q. Sort of envision that it was going to probably go down to the last one or two holes considering how many guys were all bunched up?
STEWART CINK: . I didn't envision anything really. I did notice when I saw the boards today there was always a lot of players within one shot. It seemed like it was always 16, 16, 15, 15, 15 or something thereabouts. Luckily, I don't think I was ever behind all day.
So I know there was guys that came up and tied me. I kind of made bogey early and let everybody sort of sneak back in, but I don't think I ever got behind. So I felt like I was the one that had the most holes to play and therefore I had the advantage. And I put myself in the advantage by birding the last few holes yesterday and giving myself a little bit of a cushion.
It wasn't that I was trying to stay one step ahead of them, I was trying to do the best I could just like everybody else was, but it just happen to be just enough. And I made some good saves on the back nine. Some tough two-putts that were -- they were the turning point or the important points in the round to keep the momentum going on 10, 11, 12, 13 and then up and down on 14 and 15. Those holes were -- - I mean, they're not guaranteed to make pars or the two-putt bird on 13 every time there.

Q. Tell us what did you do during the rain delay? Talk about 14 when you did come back from the rain delay?
STEWART CINK: I didn't have time to do anything during the rain delay because it took us so long to get in the van. There was confusion about whether we were suppose to come in or whether we were suppose to stay out there. Finally they decided we were suppose to go in. Then we took a round about way. By the time we got in, the weather had cleared through and they were basically telling us to be in position in 25 minutes. So there was no time for me to figure out what to do. There was no interviews done, nothing.
I walked inside, went to the restroom, came back out to the range and hit 20 balls and off we go. And then the first shot wasn't exactly my best one.
I had just sort of an in between yardage with just a little tap pitching wedge down the hill there and absolutely laid sod over it. I mean, there's no other way to describe it. I just batted it and it came up 30 yards short of the green. I was like, hello, what are you doing.
But, you know, the shot I made from there after that one from short of the green, sort of a bump and run, was probably one of the best chips I've ever hit in the life, considering the pressure that was on.

Q. You have been one for nine, I think, when leading going into the final round. Can you talk about the psychology of closing out and maybe what you learned today or how that went?
STEWART CINK: It definitely is something that snowballs either way. You got the way that Tiger goes where any time he is sniffing the lead he seems to just will it through. Then you got the way I was, which is one for nine, where it seems like any time there's a chance to lose you lose. We kind of went that way. But there's definitely been some times when I felt like I've made a few poor mistakes that cost me tournaments. Like PODS this year for sure. I made mistakes and gave the tournament away to Sean O'Hare.
Then there was other times when guys played really well. A lot of things happen. It's a crazy game, this game of golf. And today I knew to expect a battle.
That's one thing I came to the golf course prepared for. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I would have loved to have gone out there and tried to shoot, you know, or I was trying, but I would have loved to gone out and shoot 62 and just slam the door on everybody. But I was prepared for that not happening.
I think I got myself ready, got myself intense to the point where I could block out most distractions, and I played mostly mistake free today. I 3-putted 4 and chunked the shot on 15, or 14, but for the most part, you know, I was very solid and I took advantage of some of the opportunities today.

Q. Can you talk about the front nine?
STEWART CINK: Yeah. I did hit two really good shots on 1, then made kind of a pretty weak attempt at the putt. Then the second hole I had a, about a 25, 30-footer. I left my wedge short. Then the putt just -- I don't know, I misjudged the speed on it and I hit it like six, seven feet past. I was thinking, you know, here we go, this is what the battle that I was thinking of, this is where the battle starts. And knocked that putt in. You know, that was actually very good for my confidence.
Then I 3-putted 4. Two good shots behind the hole and had a pretty severe downhill putt and knocked it past and missed the comeback. Didn't feel too down about that. But I felt like I was in a race for sure. I think at that point I was tied for the lead.
After that really is where I think the preparation I made before the round really kicked in. Because I knew I was in a battle. I knew I had the advantage because I had the most holes to play. With a Par 5, 6 coming up, I took advantage of that one, made birdie there.
Got a good break on 9 with the putt sort of toppling in the side. I stayed tough. That was the key, just staying tough out there today.
The front nine wasn't easy, but the whole golf course wasn't easy sometimes. Something about the way the golf is when you are in the lead trying to win it seems like the course play as little bit harder. Today the wind and everything coming up, it was challenging out there. I was proud of myself for sticking it out.

Q. Any similarities between victory number one here and your second win here?
STEWART CINK: Very little. I'd say that my first win here was very similar to what Hunter Mahan would have done if he would have won today. Playing in the groups ahead, shoot a low round, wait for everybody to come through group after group, no one ties you, you are the last man standing. Today was quite a bit more difficult actually from a pressure standpoint because, you know, this whole one for nine thing, you know.
I hadn't done that great in that position. So I know there's been talk that I've not been a closer. I mean, I give -- they have every right to say that, because I felt the same way myself. And so I felt like I had something to prove to myself.
I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody out there that's writing stories or doing articles or whatever but to myself. I wanted to prove something to myself. And that extra burden that was carrying around, trying to silence those thoughts added to the difficulty. And coming through it makes me even more proud of it.

Q. You've obviously had a very good year coming in, but you weren't rewarded. How important was it to get rewarded with a win to sort of justify that year?
STEWART CINK: I think that's a good way to put it. Because I think I've at times gotten goals and rewards somewhat confused. And this is something that -- there's a guy on the west coast named Eddie Merrins. A lot of you probably heard of him -- the "Little Pro". He told me that one time. Just walked up to me and said, Don't get your goals and rewards confused. I thought about it and he's right.
So I sort of adjusted to what I would call a small picture set of goals. And I have my goals for every shot. Trying to stay in every shot the best I can, you know, calculate yardage, wind, bounce, all that stuff and just try to do the very best I can to stay the most intense on every shot. If I do that and satisfy that goal, then the rewards, the rest of it takes care of itself.
So today is a perfect example of that. Stay intense on all my shots and putts and everything from start to finish, end up with the reward. So it feels good to know that Eddie Merrins probably, you know, helped me pull it through on a day like today.

Q. Can you talk about Heath? Seemed to be on your heels for most of the round. He birdied 6, you birdied 6. He birdied 9, you birdied 9. 13, 15, same way. Can you talk about meeting that challenge?
STEWART CINK: Yeah. You know, out here I mean I've been out here long enough now where I've developed quite a number of good friendships and Heath is one of them. He is a good friend of mine. We live pretty close to each other in Atlanta. We're roughly the same age. And he's played really well for a long time. He is so straight. He is like the opposite of me. He is so straight. He is just always in the hole. And I'm a lot longer than he is. But I'm also, you know, sometimes like this.
And I knew he was really close to me. And we were birding the same holes. We actually birdied the holes we should be birding. Then you know he chipped up there about two feet. I looked at the leader board and he was one shot behind me and he had two-foot birdie putt. I think it was three or four feet, I don't know, but I looked close to me. At that point I thought Heath Slocum just tied me. This is between me and Heath. I felt like if I could beat Heath that I'd have a good shot at the other guys.
You hate to come up against a guy that's your friend like that and try to beat him, but he'll get his chances. And he played really well. The turning point for him was the shot on 16 that just went a little left and ended up going down the back swale and it's such a difficult hole. You can't go over. You obviously can't be short like I was yesterday.
Heath played well. He should be proud. And he'll win plenty of tournaments. Before the end of the year I bet he'll win.

Q. Stewart, you said a few minutes ago you had something to prove to yourself coming into the last round. What did you prove to yourself today?
STEWART CINK: I think one thing definitely that I taught myself is that it's not as hard as I've made it into. You know, all these having the lead and not winning, whether it's playing poorly or just getting outplayed by somebody else I think I've made it a little more difficult than it is. And I've forgotten it's just golf. Just playing golf. Just going out there and doing the best you can.
My wife told me back after Tampa when I lost there, you know, I was sort of just laying things out on the table to her and, you know, saying how I felt and all that. And she said, sometimes you just have to be willing to run naked across the green. And that sounds crazy, but if you think about it, it's true too. I mean, guys like Tiger and Phil, when they are in contention, they let it all out. They don't think about the next one. They don't think about the consequences. They just go for it.
And that's easy to do when you probably won 50 or 60 tournaments but that's one thing I think I have been unwilling to do until this year. And I decided I am going to run across the green naked. I'm not going to leave anything in the bag. I'm just going to go for it, you know. If I finish third or fourth every time I have the lead going into the last round, then at least I've given it a shot. But today, you know, worked out in my favor.

Q. You mentioned looking at the leader board a couple times. How often did you look at the leader board today and are you a leader board watcher generally?
STEWART CINK: I don't stare at them but I don't ignore them. I used to not want to watch the leader boards but then I found that was even more distracting, the wondering. That was more distracting than actually knowing where you are. So, you know, if I see one I'll look at it.
I wanted to know when we were on 16 tee. I saw Tommy Armour, I believe it was, hit it really close on 17. I looked across and saw the leader board. It was really hard to read especially me in my advanced age now, but I thought that he had probably moved to 17-under. And I think I was 18-under. So I told myself on 16 that I needed to birdie one of the last three holes to win the tournament. I didn't do it, but I tried to.
And you know I felt like that was the right mindset to be aggressive, keep on pushing, keep the accelerator down and not just try to limp into the clubhouse.

Q. Two-part question. What is your caddie's name? And on 18 before your second start, he came down green side and ran back. And I'm just wondering, what did he report back to you?
STEWART CINK: Frank Williams is my caddie.
When you get off line like I was you really not in the range of where the yardage markers are. And so, you know, if you are really smart mathematically you can look at the yardage markers in the fairway then geometrically figure out what your angle and exactly how far you have.
All he was doing -- he just actually used his steps as one-yard markers and stepped all the way to the front edge of the green just to make sure. We had time. He just wanted to make certain of the yardage.
And when we got back up there, you know, I looked at him and said what do we got 93? He said, yeah. I said well I looked at the short link scoreboard. (Laughter.)
Sometimes you go through a lot of pain staking effort and all you have to do is open your eyes and look at the board.

Q. I wanted you to walk through that 18. You kind of did there, but was there any thought of hitting a 3-wood to get in it play better or you just wanted to block it down there or what was the thought process?
STEWART CINK: Of all the driving holes on the PGA Tour for probably the last four years, since I've been in a lot longer, probably in the four years or so that hole has been the most comfortable drive for me. I've been able to pound it down there and I've hit the fairway. I'm not going to say I've hit it a hundred percent of the time, but I've made good drives time after time after time on that hole. And I just felt confident wailing on a driver. I figured if it goes in the rough I'm probably going to have a sand wedge in the green. Down wind. The rough's not super high here. I just figured that was a better option than taking the 3-wood and getting those bunkers in play.
Because it's roughly 285 to carry both bunkers and I can carry it no problem at 285. So that was the thought there. Just trying to wail on it and get it down there. I hit it a little further right than I meant to and it caught the path but as it turned out it wasn't that bad of place to be.

Q. How does that shot compare to the beauty you had on 17 in '97?
STEWART CINK: Today was an easy shot. The shot on 17 back then there was high rough, down slope, that was a nightmare. You didn't want that at all. The one thing they had in common was both of them hit the cart path to end up where they did.
But the shot today on 18, it was a tricky shot to judge the yardage but it was not a difficulty shot. I mean, it was an L-wedge, average lie, not a bad lie, downhill, down wind, soft green. You know, I had everything going for me really except I just misjudged the lie a little bit and it came out a little too far.

Q. Even though this was the 18th hole and that was only the 17th?
STEWART CINK: That was a heck of a shot back then. I was probably 50/50 whether I was going to pull that shot off. This one here, if you put everybody in the field in that exact position they're 'probably going to play the hole -- you know, there's probably going to be triple the number of birdies that there are bogeys I would say.

Q. You seem like a pretty laid back kind of guy. How much is it not in your nature to run naked across the greens?
STEWART CINK: Well it's not in my nature. You're right. Stuff like that just laying it all on the line and giving it everything it comes easy and natural for some people and other people it doesn't. For me, it doesn't always come natural to just totally, you know, let everything go. That's one thing that I think held me back a little bit being in contention and being left and willing to lay myself out there and you're right. I mean, it's not exactly my nature to run naked.

Q. So you going to do it out here in a few minutes?
STEWART CINK: No, no, no. That's only for when you are in the golf tournament. Now the golf tournament's over there's no reason to disrobe.

Q. (Question about wife's advice.)
STEWART CINK: Part of it. I mean, my wife and I were best friends before we got married and this week was our 15th wedding anniversary and I'm 35. She's been like my sidekick since I was about 14 years old. We've known each other that long. I really admire her ability to stand outside of the game of golf and not be a golfer but to get inside the heads of all the players, including mine especially and just come up with the right thing to say sometimes. And perfect example is running naked across the green.
I mean, I would never have thought of it like that. But she came up with it. And it's just -- she's an athlete too. She played tennis and softball growing up. But something about the way she can just simplify things from an outsider's point of view sometimes you have to take a step back in order to see the whole thing.
So yeah I mean I -- I don't know. She's -- when she talks about stuff like that, I listen. I don't pay her. I pay somebody else a lot of money to say basically the same things. (Laughter.)

Q. You mentioned talking to her in Tampa. Were there other times like you said at the pods where you kind of hashed it out with her, kind of your frustrations?
STEWART CINK: All the time.

Q. Other pearls of wisdom that she told you?
STEWART CINK: Well, you know, there's been plenty of conversation. I can't even remember all the ones we've had because we talk about it all the time. And she, she was the one who first told me that I had the yips back in 2002, I think it was. She came to me and I was putting poorly and I was -- yips is sort of a word you don't want to ever talk about as a golfer. No one wants to discuss it.
And she came up to me and said, you know, I know you are not putting well, I know you putted great in the past but right now you are struggling. I think I know what your problem is. I was like, okay, let's hear it. She goes, I think you got the yips. I was like that's really great. (Laughter.) My first thought was I got upset about it and took it personally. But then I thought if I didn't have what she's saying, if I didn't have the yips, or a yip in my putts, then she wouldn't notice because she is not even a golfer.
So I use her as an outside source, an extra pair of eyes that she can see in and see what's so obvious that I never see. You know what I mean? So she was the first one that told me I had the yips. It forced me to really look in the mirror and figure out my putting, figure out what you are doing, why aren't you putting better. And sort of radically changed my whole entire approach to the way I putted.
And it's worked out pretty well. For 5 or 6 years now I've putted fairly well. So that's just a good example of the kind of pearls she throws out.
THE MODERATOR: Any more questions?

Q. (No microphone.)
STEWART CINK: It's tough on the PGA Tour. The depth of the play is so good and so deep that you just don't -- you can't never expect or I should say you should always expect players to just come firing at you. That's what I had for three straight days. Or for the better part of Friday through the end of today.
I mean, I had guys that were very relaxed and I'm sure some of them probably also were aware of the fact that I haven't won a lot of tournaments when I leading at the 54 hole mark. So that probably even gave them a little more confidence to go out there and try to throw up the low numbers. So just feels good to have silenced that for now. And I'm tired. I mean, there's no question.
I understand why Tiger Woods only plays 15 to 17 tournaments a year because he is in this position almost every time he tees it up and it's tiring. I hope I can pull it back tomorrow at CVS.
THE MODERATOR: All right, Stewart Cink, thank you. Congratulations.
STEWART CINK: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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