Despite tough recent defeats, Cink still stellar

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents

DORAL, Fla. -- Stewart Cink knows he would get no argument.

Two weeks ago, he squandered a chance for his first victory since 2004 when he lost a four-stroke lead during the final round of the PODS Championship. He has no one but himself to blame.

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Stewart Cink.

Stewart Cink

Through 18 holes

STATS Rnd1 TOT RANK* EAGLES -- 0 N/A BIRDIES 8 8 1 PARS 8 8 T76 BOGEYS 2 2 T32 DOUBLE BOGEYS -- 0 N/A OTHER -- 0 N/A DRIVING ACCURACY 64 64.3 T9 DRIVING DISTANCE 348.5 348.5 1 PUTTS PER ROUND 25 25.0 T9 PUTTS PER GIR 1.417 1.417 T3 GREENS IN REG 67 66.7 T23 SAND SAVES -- 0 N/A

That's why Cink was so pleased to be back in contention on Thursday after the first round of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship. The 66 he fired on Doral's Blue Monster left him one stroke off the lead held by Geoff Ogilvy and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

"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," Cink explained. "If it takes 50 tournaments for me to win another one, then I'll be happy with the 51st."

The way Cink is playing, though, that fifth PGA TOUR victory may come much sooner.

He tied for third behind the red-hot Tiger Woods at the Buick Invitational earlier this year. And Cink won five matches before losing to the game's No. 1 player 8 and 7 in the finals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

Cink's nemesis at the PODS Championship was a resurgent Sean O'Hair, who closed with a 69 to win his second PGA TOUR event. Cink, though, was his own worst enemy -- dropping four shots in four holes on the back nine of the Copperhead Course.

"It's difficult because the memories linger from that," Cink said. "I mean, I gave it away. But I learned from it, too. It's part of the process. Let me just say that not everybody out here is Tiger Woods, okay? He's making (winning) 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."

Cink certainly didn't force things on Thursday at the Blue Monster. He played his first 13 holes in 5 under, then bounced back from his only two bogeys with a trio of birdies, including on his last two holes.

"It was a solid day for me," Cink said. "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."

Cink skipped last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard so he could watch his two children play in a hockey tournament. On Thursday, the man who has a three top-3 finishes in his last four starts seemed to have picked up right where he left off.

This time, though, he wants to close the deal.

"I flew home with him after Tampa," said Frank Williams, Cink's long-time caddy. "He had a great attitude. He was disappointed but knew he was going to have other chances. He wasn't devastated. He was mad. He was mad. But he knew there were going to be other chances.

"He's hitting it great. He just needs some good things to happen. He's done it his whole career. It's just for some reason Sundays we haven't done it (recently)."

Williams thinks Cink's strong faith enables him to put the difficult losses behind him and move forward as he did Thursday. "That shows you how strong he is," Williams said.

Cink, one of the nicest players on the PGA TOUR, didn't mince words when he was interviewed that Sunday in Tampa. Given the perspective of time, though, he can better accept what happened and start looking at the glass half-full.

"You can't just paint a rosy picture and expect everything to dissipate," Cink said. "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've got to wrestle with a few things out here, because golf is such a game that happens between your ears. ...

"It's hard to let go of the good or the bad."

Once he got home to Atlanta, Cink watched the tape of the final round -- "That's one good thing about being in the lead is you get to see yourself hit every shot," he said wryly. Cink and his instructor, Butch Harmon, noticed some things that could help the next time he gets under the gun.

"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," Cink explained. "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."

Right now, though, Cink's inclination is to continue to ride the momentum he's gathered.

"I've had some good stretches like this in the past, but I'm just happy to be on another one," Cink said. "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."

Just like a win.