By the time Stewart Cink walked away from the scorer's trailer at the 18th hole of last week's BMW Championship and reached the clubhouse, he had signed a few hundred autographs and given away a couple of golf balls and his glove.

Only a few steps away from being able to rest his wrist, Cink's philanthropical spirit surged again; he removed the sweaty Nike hat from his head, signed it and handed to a youngster.

LAURENT REBOURS / AP (ENLARGE)

Stewart Cink has three top-10 finishes, including third at The Players and a tie for sixth at the British Open.

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Yep, you've officially arrived on the PGA Tour when the gallery wants to harvest the sweat of your brow.

And there's no doubt that Cink has arrived as one of the premier members of the tour, on and off the course.

He's intelligent — a degree from Georgia Tech — and can see issues from different angles and understand the complexities of rules and regulations. That's one reason he was asked to serve on the Players Advisory Committee, and he knows all the ins and outs of the FedEx Cup.

"We're lucky to have a guy like Stewart who will take his time to do it," tour player Charles Howell III said.

He's grown in stature among his peers. He was a de facto assistant coach at the 2006 Ryder Cup and played his way onto this year's Presidents Cup team. And he's capable of laughing and expressing himself even in difficult times.

Now he just has to win again. He hasn't won a tournament since 2004, which gets under his skin.

"Having not won this year bothers me a little bit," said Cink, who lives at the TPC at Sugarloaf in Duluth. "I feel I'm getting better as a player. I'm just not taking that big step where I can go out there and dominate a tournament. I feel like I can; I'm just not doing it."

Cink tied for seventh last week at the BMW Championship at Cog Hill, finishing at 12-under for the week. The performance helped him climb into the top 30 and earn a spot in this week's Tour Championship. He ranks 24th on the money list with earnings of $2.23 million.

"I wouldn't say my season has been successful," Cink said. "I've had little breakthroughs, had little setbacks. Overall I'm not going to be satisfied until I win."

In 22 tournaments, Cink has made 19 cuts and posted three top-10s. He tied for third at The Players and tied for sixth at the British Open. He missed the cut at the Masters and tied for 32nd at the PGA Championship, but still garnered enough points to make the Presidents Cup team.

It's his inability to close the deal that's bothersome. Last week it was a bad second round that killed his chance to derail the Tiger Woods birdie machine. And some of his better finishes have come when he really wasn't in contention.

"It's more me not really coming through when I've wanted to," Cink said. "I even realize by the way I talk, I'm putting pressure on myself. There's a lot riding on these tournaments and there's a lot of people pulling for me, wanting me to do well. I want to do well for them, as well as myself."

So Cink is adopting a new plan.

"I think it's time to forget about everybody else and play for myself," he said. "I want to go out there and relax and just add them up at the end of the day."

They added up pretty well in Chicago, giving Cink a bit of momentum coming into East Lake. He needed a high finish in order to qualify for the FedEx Cup finale.

"I definitely wanted to qualify because I love playing there," he said. "There was a time when going into the Tour Championship, it would be all or nothing. I'd be dwelling on every shot. I figured out pretty quickly that's not the best way to perform. Being a more mature player, I've learned that taking care of the little things will always take care of the big things."