It started simply with this 136-character message:
"Getting ready to play in the Accenture Match Play next week in Tucson. Hope it's warm enough to play some golf here in ATL before then ..."
Stewart Cink, Twitter aficionado, was born on Feb. 18, 2009, at 7:07 p.m.
Cink, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour and Georgia Tech alum, has taken to Twitter.com in a big way.
From his handle, stewartcink, he has sent 893 tweets and has a Pied Piper-like following of more than 482,250 people.
He has tweeted about Michael Jackson, songs about monkeys and barbecue. He has tweeted from Augusta National, Bethpage Black and Harbour Town.
While driving to the family's second home at Lake Keowee, S.C., for the Fourth of July, Cink did this interview via Twitter. Each question was less than the 140-character maximum, and, with one exception, so were his answers, which were edited for spelling and punctuation.
Q: Ever done an interview via Twitter?
A: Did one at Travelers but it was staged.
Q: Why Twitter? Why not Facebook, for example?
A: I like the control I have with Twitter. Plus the 140-character limit keeps it short and sweet.
Q: Do you answer every question asked on Twitter?
A: Obviously I can't answer every one of the responses but most don't ask for response. I do read pretty much every one, though.
Q: Ever tweeted something you've regretted?
A: Not really because I try to think it through to some extent before I send messages.
Q: Any of your tweet restaurant reviews been used in an ad by the restaurant?
A: Have no idea, but that isn't the point. Just trying to share and be helpful to other travelers. Plus it's a personal interest of mine.
Q: Do you tweet and drive cars, not golf balls?
A: Not sure I understand this one, but I have committed the offense of using Twitter on my phone while driving.
Q: Does your wife get jealous because of the time you spend tweeting?
A: She's on Twitter, too, so she has no room for jealousy. Plus, people overestimate how much time it takes.
(Part 2:) People vastly overestimate how much time it takes. If you send 20 text messages a day, it takes the same time to send 20 tweets out.
Q: Gotten any flak from any of the courses you've tweeted from, like the Masters?
A: Not at all. Don't think they mind at all. It's a new kind of publicity, and I am careful not to send pictures a patron couldn't also see.
Q: What's the funniest tweet you've tweeted?
A: At TCU college baseball game with Steve Stricker, eventual champion: Stricker is 14 under, should I give him the Nancy Kerrigan treatment?
Q: What's the oddest question you've received?
A: Oddest question? There are a lot of front-runners! One guy asked to teach him to putt like Kenny Perry.
Q: What's the next big thing electronically, what's the next Twitter?
A: I have no idea. I bet the Twitter folks didn't think Twitter was the next big thing, either, but now their servers are swamped!
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