Stewart Cink rolled in a no-pressure birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat South Africa’s Retief Goosen and win the Insperity Invitational on Sunday at The Woodlands (Texas) Country Club.
Cink, 51, notched his second title on the PGA Tour Champions since becoming eligible for the circuit last year.
“Today was a blast. Me and Chris Jones, my caddie, had a good thing going, as we always do,” Cink said. “But I executed pretty well, for the most part. And when I didn’t, I fought really hard. And I was really proud of the way I just hung in there all the way through the, you know, 55th hole.”
Cink began the day two shots off the pace set by Goosen and Canadian Mike Weir. He fired a 4-under 68 that included a clutch birdie putt at the par-4 17th to move into a tie at 11 under.
After missing the green on his approach shot, Cink opted to hit a downhill putt from off the green rather than try a chip. It rolled straight into the cup, and he celebrated the ball going in with an uncharacterstic fist pump.
“I actually felt like that ball was very makeable, you know, relative to the 20 or so feet it was from the hole,” Cink said his putt on 17. “It just had a look about it. And I kind of rehearsed a little bit of fist pump there, admittedly, and kind of like went through it in my head before. And when the ball got in the hole, I’m like, ‘I’m doing the fist pump!’ And so I kind of let something out that you don’t see much out of Stewart Cink.”
Cink finished regulation at 11-under 205.
Goosen had a quiet round of 70 with three birdies and one bogey. Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez also threatened to join the playoff when he eagled the par-5 15th to reach 11 under and made par on the next two holes.
But Jimenez bogeyed his last hole to drop to 10 under, alone in third place. He signed for a final-round 70.
Cink and Goosen replayed the par-4 18th, where Goosen’s second shot landed in the water. Cink found the green with ease and had two putts to win, but easily made his short birdie attempt.
Tied for fourth at 9 under were Scott Parel (66 on Sunday), Joe Durant (69), Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (70), Australia’s Steve Allan (70) and Y.E. Yang of South Korea (71).
Weir dropped all the way outside the top 10 to 6 under with a 3-over 75 on Sunday and finished tied for 11th place.
–Field Level Media
