Georgia connections on PGA Tour

Duluth’s Stewart Cink hasn’t allowed his victory at the British Open Championship in Turnberry last summer to go to his shaved head.

“My life hasn’t changed too much at all,” Cink said. “After a few months it’s like I’ve been able to reap all the positives and none of the negatives.”

Holding the Claret Jug has forced Cink to be more organized, because of a few additional demands on his time. He’s recognized in public more often. At 6-foot-4, Cink isn’t hard to identify by even the most casual golf fan. And his affability has always made him approachable.

“That’s OK and it’s certainly not like what some guys have to worry about,” Cink said. “I have a lot of nice people come up to me all the same to say something about the British Open. Some of them will say things about Tom Watson, like ‘How could you do that to old Tom?’ Things like that.”

Otherwise the Georgia Tech graduate continues to live a normal life with his college sweetheart Lisa and their two children, Connor and Reagan. In fact, Cink was in Naples, Fla., a week before the season-opener to watch his sons play hockey.

Cink remains one of the most consistently good players on the PGA Tour. He’s currently No. 16 in the World Golf Rankings, has won more than $2.4 million each of the last four seasons, and this fall could be named to his fifth consecutive Ryder Cup team.

Cink is one of five Georgia residents who won events last season, including Zach Johnson (Sea Island), Troy Matteson (Buford), Matt Kuchar (Atlanta) and Heath Slocum (Alpharetta). The number swells to six if you count Sean O’Hair, who now represents Reynolds Plantation.

Kuchar won at Turning Stone in the Fall Series and continued his hot play by finishing third in the season-opening SBS Championship in Hawaii. Kuchar said he took most of November off and used December “as my spring training.” He went to Palm Springs to spend time with instructor Chris O’Connell for a final tune-up before going to Hawaii.

“I felt good about my game,” Kuchar said. “It worked out pretty well.”

State represented well

Other past winners with ties to Georgia include Charles Howell III (Augusta), Davis Love III (Sea Island), Jonathan Byrd (Sea Island), Vaughn Taylor (Augusta), D.J. Trahan (Atlanta), Ryuji Imada (University of Georgia), Jason Bohn (Acworth) and David Duval (Georgia Tech).

Duval is not an exempt player this year, even though he’s eligible for all four majors. But six players from Georgia Tech are on the exempt list: Cink, Kuchar, Matteson, Bryce Molder, Nicholas Thompson and Cameron Tringale.