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Disaster on 18

Cink misses playoff by 1 1/2 feet

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Cink blames a minor concentration lapse for not making what should have been an easy second putt. AP

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Doug Sanders. Scott Hoch. And now, Stewart Cink.

These are guys who lost a chance to win one of golf's major championships when the easiest of putts somehow failed to drop.

Cink joined the legion of pathos when he missed an 18-inch gimme Sunday on the 18th hole of the U.S. Open.

Instead of moving on to a playoff Monday, Cink can only watch as Mark Brooks and Retief Goosen play another 18 holes at Southern Hills for the championship.

"I can handle this," Cink insisted. "This is golf. This is a game. I can handle it."

By late Monday afternoon, Goosen could take a place alongside Cink and the others, remembered for three-putting from 12 feet to cost himself an outright victory.

For now, though, the South African has a chance to redeem himself in a head-to-head showdown with Brooks.

Not so for Cink, who missed the extra round by one stroke in a surreal turn of events that saw all three contenders three-putt the final hole.

"It was strange," Cink said, shaking his head.

Others have covered this dreaded ground. Sanders missed a 3-footer to win the 1970 British Open, losing the next day to Jack Nicklaus in a playoff. Hoch was 1 1/2 feet from victory in the 1989 Masters, missed the putt and succumbed in a playoff against Nick Faldo.

Cink violated the most basic golfing rule: Never take anything for granted.

Notable collapses in the majors 1928 U.S. Open: Roland Hancock needs bogey-par finish to win, but takes double bogey on 17th and bogey on 18th to miss playoff between winner Johnny Farrell and Bobby Jones. 1939 U.S. Open: Sam Snead, thinking he needs birdie on the last hole, plays aggressively and winds up with an 8. He finishes two strokes out of playoff among winner Byron Nelson, Craig Wood and Denny Shute. 1946 Masters: Ben Hogan three-putts for bogey on 18th at Augusta; Herman Keiser wins by one stroke. 1946 U.S. Open: Hogan has another three-putt bogey on 18th, which costs him spot in playoff among winner Lloyd Mangrum, Vic Ghezzi and Nelson. 1947 U.S. Open: Snead and Lew Worsham are tied on final hole of playoff. Snead misses 30-inch putt on 18th; Worsham makes his 30-incher. 1961 Masters: Needing par on 18th to win second straight Masters, Arnold Palmer finds bunker, takes double bogey and finishes one behind Gary Player. 1966 U.S. Open: Palmer leads by seven with nine holes to play at The Olympic Club and takes aim at Hogan's scoring record. Instead, he makes four bogeys and falls into playoff with Billy Casper, who defeats Palmer the next day. 1970 British Open: Doug Sanders has birdie putt on final hole to win, but three-putts, pushing off 2-foot par putt. Bogey leads to playoff against Jack Nicklaus, who beats Sanders by one at St. Andrews. 1993 PGA Championship: Greg Norman has 15-foot birdie putt to win sudden-death playoff. He lips out, then misses 4-footer coming back as Paul Azinger wins. 1996 Masters: Norman has six-stroke lead going into final round against Nick Faldo, but closes with 78 and loses by five strokes. 1999 British Open: Jean Van de Velde needs only double bogey on 18th at Carnoustie. He hits driver into right rough. His 2-iron clangs off grandstand and shoots back over Barry Burn. He chunks wedge into burn. He hits into bunker and needs 8-foot par to make playoff. Paul Lawrie wins four-hole playoff over Van de Velde and Justin Leonard. 2001 U.S. Open: Retief Goosen needs two-putt par from 12 feet on 18th at Southern Hills. He hits first one 2 feet by, and misses coming back to drop into playoff with Mark Brooks. Stewart Cink, tied with Goosen at the time, misses 15-foot par putt, then misses 18-inch bogey putt as he tries to clear the stage for Goosen. That putt winds up costing him playoff spot.

He was totally focused on his first putt at No. 18, a 15-footer to save par. He felt that was his only chance to get into a playoff, so he hovered over the ball studiously, looking for every dip and break in the undulating green.

When the ball slipped by the left edge of cup, Cink jumped in the air in disgust. Then he marked his ball, re-spotted it and followed the common custom of putting out so Goosen could celebrate his victory with the last shot of the tournament.

"It was really hard to concentrate on that second putt," Cink said. "I really didn't think it meant much. I had put all my emotions and energy into the first one. It's a funny thing."

The tap-in never had a chance. Cink's club opened up as it struck the ball, sending the ball skidding wide right. He wound up with a double-bogey.

Then it was Goosen's turn. He missed his first putt, the ball sliding two feet past the cup. Then he missed again -- to the right, just like Cink -- the ball ricocheting off the lip and winding up three feet away on the other side.

Goosen put his hands on his hips, clearly shocked. Cink, who had just done the same thing, felt for his rival.

"It not only wrecks your confidence," Cink said, "it's kind of embarrassing."

Goosen pulled himself together and rolled in the bogey putt. Cink was so wrapped up in the moment he didn't realize at first that he could have been in the playoff.

"I'm sure that scenario will never present itself again," he said after winding up with a 3-under 277.

Goosen and Brooks finished at 276.

Cink, a 28-year-old Alabama native who has won twice on the PGA Tour, began the final round tied with Goosen at 5 under.

Seventeen holes later, they were in exactly the same position as they headed to the brutally tough finishing hole.

Brooks, playing a couple of groups ahead, bogeyed the 18th to drop one shot behind the leaders. When Goosen hit a brilliant second shot from 171 yards, Brooks began to pack up his things, figuring his chance of getting into a playoff was done.

Cink was on the ropes when he knocked his second shot in the thick rough behind the green. He chipped out and nearly made the putt, then figured he was done.

Cink, a tall, lanky guy with a dimpled chin, tried to ease his pain by convincing himself that his second miss really didn't matter.

"If I made that second one, I really think Retief would have found a way to get down in two. I really do," he said.

Cink was married and a father before he left Georgia Tech as a three-time All American. He has been a solid if unspectacular player as a pro, certainly not up to the level of a former college teammate, David Duval.

Duval was nowhere to be found on Sunday, dropping from the leaderboard with a 74.

As for Cink, he showed he has the shots to contend for a major championship. Trailing by a stroke, he made a brilliant second shot at No. 17, winding up with a two-footer for birdie.

In a touch of irony, Cink's putting was a major reason he had a chance to win. He ranked fourth in the 156-player field with an average of 1.54 putts per hole.

"With a major championship on the line, I was hanging right in there," he said. "It's the first time I've been that close. Next time, there's no reason for me not to have 100 percent confidence in myself."

Next time, though, he has to remember not to take anything for granted.

 

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