Cink's family celebrates

By DOUG ROBERSON

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For 17 holes on Sunday, Anne Cink joined the rest of the world in rooting for Tom Watson to win the British Open.

Finally, as her son Stewart put his tee in the ground at No. 18 at Royal Turnberry, she couldn’t do it anymore, motherly instincts and all.

Just after Stewart’s long birdie putt dropped, with him pointing his putter at the hole, almost daring it to deny him, she snapped a photo of the leaderboard on her computer and texted it to Stewart with a one-word caption: “Beautiful.”

Indeed. Stewart, a Georgia Tech alum and Duluth resident, rode the momentum of that birdie to defeat Watson by six strokes in a playoff to win the British Open, his first major championship.

“Just thrilled. Just blown away,” Anne said. “He’s finally gotten the credentials. He had everything else. He had all the respect of all the other players. Played the game so beautifully.”

And it’s not just a matter of how Stewart Cink plays the game.

“He’s just one of the best guys there is playing golf,” said Bruce Heppler, who was hired to coach Georgia Tech’s men’s golf team a month after Cink graduated with a degree in management. Though Heppler never instructed Cink, he says Cink stays active with the program.

“We’ve had several conversations about where nice guys finish. It’s nice to see a nice guy finish first.”

Anne Cink passed the time during the tournament by inventing new housecleaning chores to do, while dad Robert stayed frozen in front of the television “shaking like a leaf,” she said.

As Stewart stayed steady through the four-hole playoff, they, too, started to relax. They received just a couple of phone calls during the tournament. But just after Stewart tapped in his second birdie of the day on the final playoff hole at 18, she said the phone calls and neighbors started pouring into their house on their little cul-de-sac in The Villages, Fla., and the cork in the champagne came flying out.

“This is the one he would have picked to win,” she said. “He has such a huge respect for the Open.”

While Stewart was growing up, Anne, who also plays, would drop him off at Florence (Ala.) Country Club, where he would spend hours putting and chipping. (It wasn’t big enough to have a driving range, she laughs).

That’s where he and Chad Parker, a childhood friend who is now the head golf professional at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, would play a lot of imaginary majors.

“This putt to win the Masters, hook it around this tree to win the U.S. Open,” Parker said. “You talk about that stuff when you are young teenagers. We did that a lot.”

Parker then joked: “He practiced a little bit more than I did. That’s why I’m over here selling shirts and he’s holding the Claret Jug right now.”

But even as Stewart started racking up wins in junior golf, his parents didn’t push him, simply letting him enjoy his sport.

“We didn’t put a lot of stock into hoping for things in the future,” Anne said. “We didn’t put a lot pressure on him, and he didn’t put a lot of pressure on himself.”

His success on the junior circuit earned a scholarship to Georgia Tech, where he met Lisa and got married. After an All-American collegiate career, he went pro in 1995 and was declared “the next big thing.” Still, Anne said they played things pretty cautiously.

“We still didn’t know what it took to win and be a star on the PGA Tour,” Anne said. “We just never jumped the gun and got ahead of ourselves.”

His first PGA Tour win came in 1997 at the Canon Greater Hartford Open. Ryder Cups followed, as did invitations to be on the PGA’s advisory board. Four more wins came over the past 14 years. There were disappointments, such as missing the two-foot putt at the 2001 U.S. Open that would have gotten him into a playoff. But the “credentials” and “respect” that earned Stewart spots on prestigious tour policy groups are also why so many people were so happy for him on Sunday.

Heppler, the Tech coach, said Cink plays practice rounds with the team and serves as a mentor to Tech golfers when they make it to the PGA Tour.

Talking more about Cink’s “nice guy” persona, Heppler pointed out how Cink prepared for this year’s Open. While some golfers arrived a week early to play the course and get used to the conditions, Cink took Lisa and sons Connor and Reagan for a golf vacation, where he taught his boys the difference between links golf and American golf, while also relaxing and seeing the sights. Cink, an avid user of Twitter, sent a running diary about the trip, complete with pictures.

“He’s a great dad and husband,” Heppler said. “It’s a great day for the program and the Cink family.”

Those who play at Cink’s home course at TPC Sugarloaf were just as happy.

“We have 550 golfing members and 800 overall that are very proud to have him in the neighborhood and as a club member,” Lee Smith, the club’s head golf professional, said.

Anne and Robert Cink planned on celebrating with dinner at, fittingly, Arnold Palmer Country Club on Sunday. They had a dinner date for 6 p.m.

She said she’s left an e-mail and voicemail for Stewart, and she’s not worried if he doesn’t call back for a while.

“It all worked out,” Anne said.