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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT


June 5, 2009


Stewart Cink


DUBLIN, OHIO

STEWART CINK: I think the way they prepare the course here, they roll the greens to such a tight compacted state, that in the morning, the first nine holes is just off the charts fast. And then they sort of sponge out during the day, and very late part of the afternoon, they start to get fast again.
They were very fast. Very fast. It took a lot of -- a lot of care just to keep the ball from rolling five or six feet past the hole.

Q. What's it do to your nerves when you're putting on greens like this?
STEWART CINK: It can work both ways. A six footer when you're this fast, if you're confident that your read is correct, a six footer is really like a three footer. You're barely getting it started. You'll see a lot of putts go in. You'll see a lot of those long ones, and some that aren't too long end up rolling way past. You see some shaking of the head out there.

Q. You like them?
STEWART CINK: Oh, yeah. I think they're awesome. It definitely tests you. It forces you to be smart with your approach shots. That forces you to be in playoff mode.

Q. You're in position now. Just your thoughts heading into tomorrow?
STEWART CINK: Well, yeah. I guess I'm in position now. I don't have a lot of expectations. The last couple of weeks, I've changed to a short putter and sort of revamped my whole approach to the game and sort of started over from scratch. I'm just trying to establish a baseline right now. I've played pretty well and hit a lot of really nice shots out there. I've also hit some bad shots. That's golf. I'm just looking forward to the challenge this weekend.

Q. What was the reason you switched putters?
STEWART CINK: Same reason I went to the long putter before, bad putting. I've never been one that's afraid to change to a new method or try a new club or anything like that, even with putting.
The day after -- or even the night of Sunday night of the Players, when I got home, I quickly went into the basement and got an old short putter out and never looked back.

Q. How long did you use the long putter?
STEWART CINK: I used it six years. During that six years, I used the short putter also for about a year, different times. Also at home I play with a short putter now and then just to stay comfortable with it just in case I want to switch back.
I don't want to get too far away from it just in case it may be ruled illegal one day or I may want to go back to it one day so it's not a shock to the system.

Q. Is this your old standby, the one you're using now?
STEWART CINK: No. This is a new standby. The new Nike model that's a prototype that doesn't even have a name yet. It's been pretty good. My results have been good so far. I'm not really hanging my hat on results so far.

Q. Is it an adjustment?
STEWART CINK: It was an adjustment for the first couple of days, but I practiced so much. I practiced putting more in the last three weeks than I have in a year, maybe even more leading up to this. Just really addressing, you know, my putting and trying to really work some issues out. Just overhaul the entire system.

Q. When you putt on greens like this, is this the true test of whether you're on the right track?
STEWART CINK: It is. You've got serious speed issues on some of these putts from outside of 20, 30 feet, where you just have to be dead on with your speed and the line to get it within tap-in range. And certainly to make putts. You have to be right on it.
It's been fun to see some putts go in. I've made a few, and I've missed a few. Like I said before, that's golf.

Q. What is it that led to your decision to change putters particularly, your distance or your setup?
STEWART CINK: Just confidence was lacking. There's not a statistic category for confidence. My results haven't been very good this year. When I looked at my stats -- I'm not a stat watcher, but when I looked at them, every stat that was attached to putting, bunker shots, up and downs, all the putting stats were just not very good, not very exciting.
So decided to sort of start over and rebuild from the ground up.

Q. After this week, do you think they'll name a putter after you?
STEWART CINK: I think so. I would give it a nice name if I win with it. It's not going anywhere.

End of FastScripts




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