Cink Beats the Field, Not Himself

As the sky faded to a menacing gray, Stewart Cink was the lone splash of color at the 13th hole. His stunningly yellow shirt, better suited to the glorious sunshine that bathed the Travelers Championship until Sunday morning, stood out in the darkened afternoon when his game did not.
But with the smell of rain clinging to the course, Cink nailed a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 13 and went into a weather delay still leading the field by a shot. Another birdie on No. 15 over an hour later proved to be enough for him to secure the $1.08 million first prize Sunday at T.P.C. River Highlands, the same course where he won his first PGA Tour event 11 years ago.

The victory, his first on the tour since 2004, also moved him into third place in the FedEx Cup regular-season rankings behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Cink finished with an 18-under-par 262, edging Tommy Armour III and the defending champion, Hunter Mahan, by one shot. But Cink’s final-round 67 on the par-70 course was more the product of consistency than inspiration. His four birdies in the round came only when he seemed prodded into action by the chasing pack.

“We had to endure a rain delay and guys were firing left and right,” Cink said. “And I just stayed a step ahead, just enough. I think that makes it even more sweet.”
Cink had carried a two-shot lead from Saturday, but his career record when leading after 54 holes was hardly a confidence boost — he was 1 for 9 before Sunday. And as he took on the 444-yard, par-4 18th hole, needing only a par to seal the result, that record nearly caught up to him.

“You’ve got the way Tiger goes here — any time he’s sniffing the lead he seems to just will it through,” Cink said. “Then you’ve got the way I was, where it seems like any time there’s a chance to lose you lose.”

He hit a towering 366-yard drive straight into the crowd on the hill to the right of the fairway. But he was only 93 yards from the pin, and it took a delicate iron shot to the fringe of the green to remedy the wayward drive. Ultimately, he said, it was a pearl of wisdom from his wife, Lisa, that made the difference.

“She said sometimes you have to be willing to run naked across the green,” he said. “And that sounds crazy, but guys like Tiger and Phil, 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.”

Tournament organizers had rescheduled the final round of play on Sunday in anticipation of the heavy downpour, sending the field off in threesomes on the first and 10th holes starting at 7:30 a.m. The leaders did not tee off until 9:30, but perhaps the earlier start was to blame for Cink’s sluggish play.

While the field sneaked up on him, Cink bogeyed the fourth hole before recovering with a birdie on No. 6. Mahan, Armour and Cink’s friend Heath Slocum took another jab at him by posting birdies on the ninth to tie at 15 under. By the time Cink had matched them, 11 players skulked within four shots of the lead.

None, however, could mount a charge on a back nine that had been so vulnerable through the weekend — D. J. Trahan, for instance, carded a 30 there on Saturday.

“I didn’t feel like I played those holes badly,” Mahan said, “I just didn’t quite make them, didn’t quite read them the way I needed to.”

Neither did Cink, but he read them just well enough.