PHOENIX — Stewart Cink has a thing for the Phoenix Suns. He might start having a thing for Phoenix Country Club.
Cink opened the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship with a 7-under 65 and walked off the course with a three-shot lead in the 35-man field at the PGA Tour Champions season finale. His scorecard featured eight birdies and one bogey.
He did catch a bit of luck on the par-5 18th hole, when his third shot from a bunker hit the flagstick head on. Had it not done so, he might have ended up in the water but instead the ball dropped straight down, stopping about two feet from the cup. Cink took advantage of this stroke of luck to make birdie at the last.
“It was probably a good enough break that made up for about six bad breaks out there,” he said. “But I’m just glad that it was straight because right in the center of the hole and it kept me from definitely taking a penalty shot.”
Before golf, an NBA game
On Wednesday night, Cink took in the Phoenix Suns game and during a break in the action, got called him down to the court to help the Suns mascot, the Gorilla, who bounced off a trampoline, grabbed the ball out of Cink’s outstretched hand and flew through the air for a dunk.
To top it off, the Gorilla then did the stand-on-his-head celebration that was made famous by Incarnate Word receiver Jalen Walthall.
“It was cool, I got on the court with the Gorilla. I’ve never had a gorilla run towards me that fast on that trampoline,” he said. How did he not flinch?, he was asked. “Part of me wanted to flinch, the other part of me wanted to be holding my camera right here to video that because he was like sprinting.
“It was pretty fun. Like I said, I love the NBA. The energy at the games all across the whole league is awesome, but the Suns is right up there at the top.”
During the 2023 WM Phoenix Open, Cink donned a Kevin Durant jersey on the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale. What was impressive then was Durant had just been traded to the Suns the day before, and Cink pulled some strings to get a jersey made.
Format, TV, prize money | Winners in 2024 | Money in 2024
Cink went to Georgia Tech, lives in Atlanta and is a self-described die-hard Hawks fan. He says he looked around for a No. 2 Suns jersey of Josh Okogie, a fellow Yellow Jacket, but he struck out there.
As far as his play on Thursday went, Cink sounded pleased.
“The things I’ve been working on this year are swing related. They’re coming together. I still don’t feel 100 percent there, but good enough to battle with,” he said. “And then my heart is the biggest piece. If I get my heart in the right place, I can be pretty dangerous out here.”
Cink earned his first PGA Tour Champions win earlier this season but he entered the finale 12th in the points, falling just shy of the group of 10 who have a shot to capture the season-long points title.
Still, he’s off to a solid start in hopes of winning again in 2024.