THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 25, 2002

Stewart Cink

JOHN BUSH: Stewart, thanks for coming by. Obviously, not the way you wanted to finish there on number 18 but still a pretty good round, in good shape heading in tomorrow.

STEWART CINK: Yeah, you hate to bogey the last hole no matter what position you're in. But really the way I have to look at it today is I shot 3-under par on a fairly windy day and I was in contention, so I think 3-under par is a pretty respectable round. I did a lot of things I wanted to do today.

Q. Was that, you mentioned it was windy, was that the reason nobody could seem to keep it going in the right direction and make a sustain move?

STEWART CINK: It probably was the reason. The shots were pretty difficult. It seemed like every shot you faced was across the wind and you had to figure out how far you had to aim out to the side to let the ball move back in and then sometimes you felt like there was no wind and you hit your shot and your ball just sailed right through. So it was tough to get the ball pin high.

Q. Toughest of the three days so far because of that?

STEWART CINK: Well I think the first round played pretty tough, but I shot 66 that day, so it seemed easier for me. But the scoring was pretty high the first day.

Q. Go ahead and go through your round for us, if you can, starting with the bogey there on number 4.

STEWART CINK: Missed the green on 4. I hit the left bunker there, which is really not that difficult of an up-and-down but I left it about five or six feet short coming out of the sand and I had a tricky breaking putt and missed that. And then birdied 5 with a 3-wood and 5-wood on the green about 30 feet from the hole. Two putts.

And 7, I birdied with a sand wedge to about a foot.

And 8, I birdied with a 5-iron to about 15 feet.

15, I was on with a driver 3-iron about 30 feet and putted there.

And 16, I hit a 6-iron about 15 feet and made that.

And then 18, I hit it down the fairway and just rolled into the first cut. Played my next shot about 30 feet left of the hole and rolled it by about four feet and missed that.

JOHN BUSH: How far was that putt there on 18.

STEWART CINK: The first one? About 30 feet.

JOHN BUSH: 30 feet.

STEWART CINK: Yeah.

JOHN BUSH: Questions, guys?

Q. Are you anxious for tomorrow to see if you can get it done just to test yourself?

STEWART CINK: That's exactly what I'm looking forward tomorrow, is just to go out there and enjoy the competition again that I've missed so bad for the last eight or so months. I just haven't really been in this position in a little while and I've been hungry. So I finally get to satisfy my appetite.

Q. Does it have any effect on you guys knowing that Tiger's not going to four-peat?

STEWART CINK: Well, I don't think you can ever count him out.

(Laughter.) I don't think it has any effect, really. I mean, if he was say three or four shots behind the leader and then yeah, I mean, obviously when you look up there and you see the number one player in the world and also the hottest player and the player that's won this tournament so much, yeah, that would probably affect everybody's thoughts a little bit. I don't think it would affect the shots or the outcome much, but you just expect him to make a run when he's there. I don't know what's he shooting now, but the fact that he's not involved, it probably won't have much to do. It might be just like he's not playing in the tournament. What is his score anyway?

Q. 12 back, even par.

STEWART CINK: Okay.

Q. Whatever amount of rain fell yesterday and last night, did it affect the fairways or the greens at all today or not?

STEWART CINK: I didn't see any difference with them from today and yesterday. Now I played a little bit in the rain yesterday so everything was soft. But the course really has held up remarkably. The ball is still bouncing some and there's no mud on the ball and the greens are rolling really nice. So the course is just, it's really nice to see it in good firm shape as opposed to so many other years.

Q. Aren't the greens a little slower this year than in previous?

STEWART CINK: They're a little slower by Muirfield Village standards but they're still very nice and they have good speed.

Q. What's it been the last is 7 or 8 months?

STEWART CINK: Well, I just have been driving it really bad and I've been putting really bad and those are the two money the parts of the game that are just really crucial. If you have to do one or the other you got to do one or the other. You cannot do neither. And I just been doing neither. I've been fighting for like 10th place, the 20th place, the 15th place, finish. I just really haven't been able to get myself into contention because if I get some momentum, then I'll miss a fairway or I'll hit one wild or I'll miss a short putt or I'll miss. I just a haven't been making much from about 15 or 20 feet. That's really what's been hurting me.

Q. I mean, obviously, there's a turnaround this week but coming in with things progressing or is this out of nowhere?

STEWART CINK: They have been progressing. I started off horrible this year, really, and starting in about Doral, I guess, things started to really turn around I started feeling better and having more confidence and getting hungry again. And this month the last month or so has really been good for me because I've discovered some things in my swing that have been missing, just little details. And I got back into some fundamental swing thoughts for myself and really I just been hitting for fairways and putting the ball in play more often. Hitting more solid shots. I haven't really rolled in everything this week.

Q. How much is the fact that the U.S. Open is getting close and you got to have positive thoughts and feelings going back there how much are you looking forward to going back to another U.S. Open?

STEWART CINK: I'm looking forward to going back. I look forward every year. That's my favorite tournament. And after last year I feel like I can put myself in contention and give myself another thought. I don't know if that has anything to do with playing well this week or any or tournaments, but I'm definitely looking forward to Bethpage.

Q. Do you think you owe yourself one at the U.S. Open after last year?

STEWART CINK: I don't know. I think maybe the god of the game of golf owes me one. But honestly I think I really had a chance there to springboard myself into lot more competitive play and I really just didn't turn it on there like I thought I would after that tournament because I played so well in and under so much pressure and really since then it hasn't been a pressure thing it's just been more of a mechanical thing. I just have been hitting the ball all over the place and not making much.

Q. Do you play or think any differently tomorrow considering I think there might be about 10 guys within two shots of the lead going starting instead of maybe if there would be maybe you and Tway and another guy?

STEWART CINK: I won't think any differently because this course just demands the right kind of thinking. You can't go out there and think well if there's 10 guys between me and two shots back of me then I need to go ahead and just press everything and keep it in full speed ahead. Because this golf course will just kick your butt if you do that. You have to pick your spots to be aggressive. And I think that's one reason I played well here this year and also last year is that I really have been doing a good job of making a strong game plan and sticking to it. Not letting myself get outside of that just because of situations I get in.

Q. The putt you missed at the end there, was that a mis-hit, miss-read?

STEWART CINK: Well actually, I probably should have backed off because when I was standing over the putt about to pull the putter back, a big gust of wind hit me and I hit it almost off balance. And I got a lot of surface area here for the wind to hit. I got blown off a little bit in there. And so that's one those things where you wish you had it over so you could go ahead and do like you normally do. But hopefully that will just even out tomorrow and I'll get a couple extra ones to fall.

Q. When you talk about picking your spots to be aggressive, and the lead is somewhat packed like this, how much pressure is there on 11 and 15 to get it in the short grass?

STEWART CINK: Well 11 there's a lot of pressure to get in the short grass because you got a creek on the one side of the fairway, so I'm always hitting 3-wood off there. That's a good example of how I play this course. I don't really ever try to go for that green in two because I feel like I'm a good enough wedge player and putter to make birdies more often by hitting it down the fairway, laying up and making a four that way than trying to hit a driver and go for the green. I could probably reach the green with a driver but it's just not the way that I enjoy playing and not the way that I feel good, feel comfortable playing.

Q. 15 same way?

STEWART CINK: 15, no I think it's very important to hit the fairway because you know you're going to have a good shot at the green. Today I hit 3-iron on the green there on my second shot and that's into the wind. And you know it's very reachable and you know if you miss the fairway there you're dead, because there's trees and rough and big slopes and you're just bad. So you got to hit the fairway on 15 so you can give yourself a go at the green.

JOHN BUSH: Anything else? Stewart, thanks for coming by. Good luck tomorrow.

STEWART CINK: Thanks.

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