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VERIZON HERITAGE

April 14, 2010

Stewart Cink

HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Stewart Cink into the interview room here at the Verizon Heritage. The 2000 and 2004 winner of this event.
Thanks for coming by and spending a few minutes with us. Talk a little bit about being back in Hilton Head, a place that's special to you.
STEWART CINK: It's quite special. It's always one of my favorites, if not my very favorite tournament of the year. It's such a relaxed field. The golf course is really unique and special. It's like the anti-Augusta - flat, everything is very small and closed in, whereas Augusta is so large and rolling hills. Everything here is the opposite. So based on my play last week, I hope that's the opposite, too.
JOHN BUSH: Couple top-10's for your start of the year. Talk about the state of your game.
STEWART CINK: It's been sort of a continuation of some things I did in my game last year, where I was wildly inconsistent. I had the British Open win and a few good tournaments, but really a lot of lackluster play. Unfortunately I sort of continued that. And working like crazy, as always, but just not seeming to get much out of my rounds. It's hard to put a finger on exactly what it is. But I'm continuing to work hard and try to make improvements and see how we can go the rest of the year.

Q. You mentioned the anti-Augusta sort of. Can it be tough when you're gearing up to play Augusta and turn around the next week and play a completely different course? What kind of adjustments do you have to make from week to week there?
STEWART CINK: I don't think it's tough to come here. When you gear up and play a Major like Augusta or any of the big tournaments, it makes it a bit more relaxing and easier the next week because your game is already prepared. You've already done all of the preparations. And the one thing that's hard to prepare for at the Majors is that intensity of the golf course and the competition and what it means. When you come here the intensity just seems to melt away and enables you to really relax and be at your best. That's the way I see it.
A lot of players might see it more mentally they let down a little bit and they get a little scatterbrained on the golf course. But in my career I've had a lot of success the week after Majors. In fact I think all my wins, my major win, have come after the majors. It means different things to different people. In my case I think I like the relaxation of it.

Q. Can you talk about this tournament finding a new sponsor, the importance of it to the Tour, and how far the Tour is working to find a replacement.
STEWART CINK: Well, I can't answer as a member of the Policy Board, because I'm not anymore. I know the Tour is working hard. There's a lot on their plate right now with the economy and various other things that have been affecting the situation. Our business lags behind the economy a little bit because of contractual link. So we're just starting to really -- we're still in the black hole and the rest of the economy has started to ease out of it.
But this is a tournament that has got great visibility on television. The lighthouse, the 18th hole are some of the most well-known and famous holes that you see on Tour anywhere. And it looks great on TV. The players all love it. They rave about it. It's a really good fit. It's been here a long time. I hope that a company can see how valuable this could be for them, to step in and take the place of Verizon. Verizon has been great. We wish them the best in the future. Who knows, they might end up back with us at some point. But we, and I'm speaking from the players, that we really appreciate this tournament and hope that a company can come and see the value here, because it's a beautiful place. It's well organized. It's got a great staff. And it's a big opportunity for somebody to jump in here.

Q. I just checked, your latest tally was roughly over 1.2 million followers on Twitter. You've let the public into some aspects of your private life. But over the last five or ten years, it looks like athletes, whether it's good or bad, their personal lives have been magnified by the press. Do you think that's fair for the public and the media to separate the life you're going to lead outside of the golf course with the life you live inside of it?
STEWART CINK: I think it's fair. If you choose to go to a livelihood or profession in the public, like we are on television, and the gallery can come and see us up close, I think that bears the responsibility of being a public role model. And so with Twitter, I love sharing things about my private life, things I find interesting. I don't know if 1.2 million people find everything I find interesting to be interesting (laughter). A fraction of those people must because there's a lot of people signing up and it's cool.
But I believe that when you are in the public eye for what you do as a job, you need to be ready to handle the public eye with what you do when you're not doing your job.

Q. Speaking of which, the Monday after winning The Masters, there's a photo of Phil Mickelson, green jacket, driving through a Krispy Kreme. Is that perfect Phil?
STEWART CINK: I saw that. You know, someone actually sent me a Twitter message saying, "Check this picture out of Phil." I tried to open it but I couldn't do it. I couldn't -- I didn't have a good signal to open it. But I saw it on SportsCenter this morning. What I was surprised about was he was wearing the green jacket (laughter), because I had a conversation last week with a very high-ranking member of Augusta. In fact the highest ranking member of Augusta, and he was commenting about my use of the Claret Jug in a commercial for Nike, which I used in the one I pour coffee. I pour coffee in the actual Claret Jug that I used for that. And that high-ranking member of the Augusta he asked me if I had to get permission for that and I said, no, I didn't get permission, I just used it. "If you end up with a green jacket, I hope you don't mind if we put restrictions on what you do with it." I said, "I don't mind."
So I was very humored to see that picture of Phil. It's great that he's with his kids getting donuts in the morning, you wouldn't want to be doing that, but with the green jacket, that's cool.

Q. Do you think the donuts were for his kids or him?
STEWART CINK: I can't comment on that. I know if it was my family I'd be having a couple.

Q. Can you talk about what that did for Phil's legacy. We'll be talking about that shot at 13 for years. It helped define him, didn't it?
STEWART CINK: It did. And that's the kind of shots you have to pull off when you win at the Masters. It's really unique, because at the U.S. Open it's more about playing the right shot, and that probably wasn't the right shot to play when you're in the lead by whatever he was, one or two shots. That was a risky shot and he pulled it off great. But that's Phil Mickelson.
The great thing about the way he played was he played his personality. It was going for everything. It was charging. It was getting up and down from everywhere for pars and that's really to me what won The Masters for him. The up and downs on 9 and 10, the amazing par saves. The shot on 13 is the one we'll all remember. But I think the key was that he was true to himself the whole time and it really paid off for him.

Q. For weeks after Tiger said he was going to return we heard about how crazy The Masters was going to be, and the circus it was going to be, was it that kind of thing? Did you guys feel it at all or did that never really materialize?
STEWART CINK: It never really materialized. And I wouldn't say -- okay, I say it never really materialized. That sounds like we were expecting something that didn't happen. I don't think the players were expecting much, because The Masters always, it's like a crucible of the year. Everyone's intensely focused on what the players are doing, how you are playing the holes, what kind of clubs you're choosing to use, everything. So it always receives a lot of the scrutiny. And this year the topic was a little different because Tiger was coming back. I played two groups in front of Tiger the first two days, and I was expecting a raucous environment, because everyone was going to be shuffling around to get to that hole. It didn't feel any different to me. The crowds were very respectful. And it seemed like The Masters as usual, which was really a credit to The Masters. They could have experienced that a little bit different, but I think they controlled things very well.

Q. You were saying a minute ago that the Twitter thing is a responsibility of being a public figure, but how much do you enjoy doing it?
STEWART CINK: How much do I enjoy doing that? I do the Twitter because I enjoy it. I don't feel like that's a responsibility. I feel like if you're -- if I'm going to play golf at the highest level on TV, I'm going to win big tournaments and make a bunch of money and all that, that's why I feel like I'm responsible for what I do off the course, too. It has nothing to do with Twitter. I choose to do that because it's fun for me. But it also has a function. As a professional, you know, it's part of my job to increase my visibility out there a little bit. And it's hard to do that as a golfer, unless you're Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, maybe Anthony Kim. But very few people have that personality that comes through the cameras to the living rooms. I chose to use Twitter, because I can directly contact the fan base, and I don't have to use you media people.
But seriously it's a direct link from me to them, and I can share my personality. That's who I am. You can't see who I am hitting an 8-iron on the 18th hole. It looks great, if I hit a good shot, then everybody claps but you don't know anything about me. I can contact and communicate with people that way and that's why I chose Twitter. It's been good for me.

Q. Have you noticed a connection with your galleries more?
STEWART CINK: I have. I've noticed a lot of comments from people. "I follow you." I get that all the time. They repeat things back that I've said recently, or maybe not recently. But it's cool to hear that stuff and I play around with it.

Q. You've had some fun with the Claret Jug and passing it to different clubs and letting them have it. How did you come up with that idea and how has that been received by the people?
STEWART CINK: Well, it wasn't really an idea. I just thought it was the right thing to do because in addition to the TPC, I have three that had given me chances to play: East Lake, Berkeley Hills and the River Club in Atlanta. So they've given me a lot. And I really haven't given them a whole lot, except for a couple of appearances, and whatever they think the value of a PGA TOUR player hanging around and playing a lot is. Because I felt like all of that was responsible in a way for my preparation, getting ready for the British Open and that win, I think they served a chance to show it off to the members. The members have afforded me a chance to play there and practice at those places. I just think it's the right thing to do.

Q. Where is it right now?
STEWART CINK: Right now it's at home. It's sitting right next to the replica, so it looks like I've got two right now. It's nice. I've got two Claret Jugs.

Q. I know you hung around the weekend at Augusta. Can you talk about some of the things you worked on and the perspective from someone, being on the range, seeing what was going on. That's a pretty unique perspective.
STEWART CINK: Well, yes, it was. I didn't have much of a perspective because I wasn't paying any attention to anything except what I was doing. I didn't see anybody hit balls or anything like that. But I stayed after, on the weekend, and it's only a two-hour drive back to my house. With that facility how good it is and my coach there and my sports psychologist, my caddie stayed around, you know, I threw away shots around the greens last week, and I've been doing that a lot lately, just not really getting up and down, and sometimes playing the wrong shots, sometimes just not executing very well. And so that's what I went to work on last weekend. And I just tried to come up with a way to build my confidence a little bit around the greens. What better place to do it than there?
That facility is really the best I've ever seen. That's really all I did. I didn't hit balls much. I warmed up both days, but I just practiced on the short game and that's it.

Q. Just to expand on that, there was a lot of speculation about what the range would be like. But it just blew people away, I guess?
STEWART CINK: Yes, it did. It's been in the works for 15 years. And they really did the dirt moving and everything in the last nine or ten months. But it's just -- it's really -- it's the product of people that really think hard about what they want to do and have the wherewithal to go about doing it. And nothing stands in their way over there. They work around the clock to get that thing built. And it's amazing how they mimic the shots on the course with the way they built the range. You've got two fairways, one is a fade fairway, one's a draw fairway. They replicated -- third shot on 2 to any different pin placements. And the greens are the same as the greens on the course, hard and fast. The short game areas, you can pretty much find any shot that you can find on the big course right there in practice. It's just really very well thought out and I think the players all, to the last guy, really appreciate that.
JOHN BUSH: Thanks for coming by.

End of FastScripts

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