Cink Finally Closes One Out, Wins Travelers Championship
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CROMWELL, Conn. — Stewart Cink had a reputation as a good golfer who just couldn’t finish off a tournament.
His collapse during the fourth round of the PODS Championship in March left him with just one victory in the nine career events where he had the lead going into the last day.
Yesterday, he put that behind him, holding off a late charges from Tommy Armour III and defending champion Hunter Mahan to win the Travelers Championship by a stroke. With the victory, Cink was projected to go to a career-high No. 6 in the world ranking.
Cink shot a 3-under 67 — following rounds of 66, 64 and 65 — to finish at 18 under for his fifth career victory and first since 2004. Armour (65) and Mahan (65) tied for second.
Cink earned his first career win here as a rookie, and came into the day with a two-stroke lead over Heath Slocum.
“I know there has been some talk that I have not been a closer,” Cink said. “They had every right to say that, because I felt the same way myself. So I felt that I had something to prove to myself.”
He finished with a career-best 262 over the four rounds, five shots better than his 1997 total of 267. It was his first win after six top-10 finishes this year, earning him $1.08 million. It also pushed him to third place in the FedEx Cup standings behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and into second place in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.
