TOUR Insider: Cink welcomes return to grind

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Stewart Cink visited with swing coach Butch Harmon on the range at Firestone on Tuesday.

AKRON, Ohio -- His 662,552 Twitter followers had to be disappointed.

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Seems the cell service in the Glacier National Park in Montana was virtually nonexistent. So Stewart Cink had no way to "tweet" about that whitewater raft trip he took down the Flathead River or the wildlife he saw while hiking 40 miles last week.

Once the Open champion-turned-outdoorsman got back on the plane for the trip back to Atlanta, though, Cink was already getting back to business.

"I knew before I went out there what was coming -- that I needed to get ready for golf as soon as I got back," he said. "I started kind of getting prepared mentally on the flight home. I'm actually very excited about getting back into playing."

And why not?

This week it's the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational that features 49 of the top 50 players from around the globe on a course where Cink has won before. And he gets a chance to win a second straight major next week at the PGA Championship.

And let's not forget the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Cink's victory at Turnberry has given him a very real chance to win the $10 million bonus -- moving him up 43 spots in the standings into the top 20.

The affable man from Atlanta is well aware of what's at stake over the next two months of the season.

"You've got back-to-back ... elevated points weeks and then you've got the playoff tournaments coming up, too," Cink said. "So for somebody in my position, I'm hovering right around that 15th, thanks to the British Open, in there with a chance.

"So I really want to take advantage of what I've done there and turn it into something for the whole season. These tournaments are big for me."

SINGH: THIS IS THE TIME TO MAKE A MOVE

More than Cink or anyone else, though, Vijay Singh knows how playing well at the right time -- i.e., immediately, if not sooner -- can turn a season around.

He was 10th in the FedExCup standings when he won at Firestone a year ago. Wins in the first two Playoff events then all but locked up the $10 million bonus for the big Fijian, but Camilo Villegas provided some fireworks when he captured the final two titles.

The points structure was changed during the offseason to assure that any of the 30 players who make the finale at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola has a chance to win the FedExCup. The change should provide more excitement at East Lake.

"I think it's going to be great," Singh said. "Whoever plays well in the last event is going to win. I think it's very fair, and I think it's going to be good. ...

Singh

"I think everybody going into the FedExCup is going to be all pumped up and fired up. ... I think anybody in the top 50 (now) has got a great chance of winning the whole thing."

Villegas climbed from 42nd at the end of the PGA TOUR Regular Season last year to second with his breakthrough win at the BMW Championship. He says the next eight weeks are going to be "crazy.

"The FedExCup has been good to me the last two years, especially during the Playoffs, the young Colombian said. "I'm going to try to do the same thing this year. We'll see how the new points system works out. I'm sure they gave it some thought and it will be exciting for the fans and the players.

"It all boils down to playing good golf and staying mentally strong, and it you can do that, it will be a good finish to the year and hopefully some time off to regroup and get started for 2010."

Unlike Villegas and Singh, Sean O'Hair experienced the other side of the spectrum last year. He was 16th entering the Playoffs but after missing the cut in the first two events, he dropped to 75th -- five spots shy of qualifying for the third.

O'Hair, who won his third TOUR event in May, doesn't plan on letting a similar slide happen this year.

"Really, it's kind of a do-or-die (time) right now," he said. "You can't really afford to have many bad events. ... We've got a long, long stretch ahead of us and it's going to be exciting.

"It's just a matter of getting your work done but not overdoing it and not putting too much pressure on yourself. Just kind of coming out and relaxing and going about your business."

And maybe getting the ultimate payoff at the end.