Cink jumps into top three with ace
Stewart Cink briefly bobbed his head as he tried to locate the ball after teeing off with a pitching wedge on the eighth hole at TPC Southwind on Saturday. He watched as it took a bounce on the green before rolling in for a hole-in-one.
Cink, 45, immediately smiled and raised both hands in the air in jubilation. He then turned to his right and gave a high-five each to Phil Mickelson and their caddies, Tim Mickelson and Taylor Ford.
“When that ball was halfway to the hole I was thinking, ‘This is the one.’” Cink said. It was the fifth ace of his career and his first since 2012.
The perfect shot also helped thrust Cink up the leaderboard. He shot a 6under 64 and jumped 11 spots into third place at 10-under par, five shots behind leaders Dustin Johnson and Andrew Putnam. Cink and Putnam had the best round of the day.
The eighth hole has now seen nine holes-in-one, good for the most ever at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. The 144-yard par 3 is considered the fourth-easiest hole at the course. However, Cink’s shot still marks a rare occurance.
The ace was only the 43rd in the tournament’s 61-year history and is the first since 2015 when both David Hearn and Hudson Swafford had one. During Wednesday’s pro-am, FedEx employee David Edmonds made one on the 11th hole.
Cink’s last Tour victory came in the 2009 British Open, and he hasn’t had a top-10 finish since the 2017 FESJC. Last year he was tied for the lead before he shot a 3-over par 73 in the fourth round and finished tied for 10th place.
“I’m thinking it’s probably gonna take another at least 5-under par from me (Sunday),” said Cink when asked what it’ll take to come away with a victory. “That’s good. I’d rather have that where I come out and have to keep the foot on the accelerator than to hold onto something. I’ve got nothing to lose tomorrow.”