Cink sees final as his chance for a signature victory

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

MARANA, Ariz. -- Stewart Cink certainly didn't shy away from the word.

Stewart Cink believes a win Sunday might make up for some that got away. (Halleran/WireImage)

When a sportswriter suggested Saturday that the former Georgia Tech All-American might have "underachieved" -- then delicately began to backtrack -- Cink stopped him in mid-sentence.

"I use that word all the time because I consider myself to be an underachiever so far," the four-time PGA TOUR champ said firmly. "I don't believe that I've lived up to what I know I'm able to do, and I feel (I'm) waiting for it to happen. I'm patient but it's been a long time."

Cink will know Sunday afternoon whether his time has finally come as he takes on Tiger Woods in the finals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

Woods will be seeking his fourth straight TOUR victory dating back to last summer, his sixth in his last seven starts and his 63rd overall. Woods has won the global match play event two times previously, and he has 14 World Golf Championships victories in all.

Cink, on the other hand, has played in the Accenture Match Play Championship nine times now, and Sunday will be the first time he has ever played in the finale. He does have a World Golf Championships victory, though, winning the 2004 NEC Invitational, which also happens to be his last TOUR title.

And truth be told, Woods thinks reaching the title tilt of the Accenture Match Play Championship is harder than winning a TOUR event -- aside from the majors, that is.

He has only to look at his third-round match with Aaron Baddeley, who had an eagle putt on the 19th hole that could have sent Woods -- who had made 10 birdies -- home. Instead, Baddeley was sent packing after making nine birdies of his own.

"If you get hot (in a TOUR event), you're going to be leading the tournament," Woods said. "Here, you get hot, you're going home. Badds was hot yesterday and he's going home. So it's just a weird format, because anything can happen."

Victories Saturday over the reigning U.S. Open champion, Angel Cabrera, and Justin Leonard, who won the British Open in 1997, landed Cink in the championship match. He was particularly impressive in the semifinals when he shot 29 on the front.

"It's huge," Cink said. "I mean I've played very well when I needed to this week. Towards the end of the matches I've really tightened the screws and put my guys away. With the exception of the (Padraig) Harrington match, where I went to 18, I got a cushion and kept it pretty much.

"And it's been a lot of fun to really perform when I had the lead and when I needed to."

Cink knows what he needs on Sunday -- and it will be nothing short of his best. He lost to Woods 2 and 1 in the 1999 Accenture Match Play Championship. Woods also beat him in a four-hole playoff at the 2006 Bridgestone Invitational, although Cink took a four-stroke victory over the game's No. 1 in the same tournament two years earlier.

Tiger Woods is thirsty for his 63rd career PGA TOUR victory. (Halleran/WireImage)

Oh, and there was that little match during a practice round back at Druid Hills Golf Club in Duluth, Ga., when Woods was a freshman at Stanford and Cink was a senior at Georgia Tech. Cink won, but he's quick to add "that's a while back."

"It's exciting (to play against Woods),' Cink said. "It's a competitive thing. He's the best that's ever lived in golf, and just being able to get a front row seat and watch him play is fun. I'm a golf fan, just like I'm a golf player. He's just a good guy to play with.

"I like him as a person, he's a nice guy. We spend a lot of time together. We have a lot in common now, a lot more than we used to now that he's got a baby. I don't know what else to say. He's just a good guy to be around and I enjoy watching him play."

Woods, who won three straight U.S. Amateurs and three consecutive U.S. Juniors, thrives on the head-to-head competition. He is 30-6 at the Accenture Match Play Championship, and 10-2 against Americans. He has won all but three of his last 25 matches.

Cink, though, has improved to 13-8 overall with this week's five wins. With a victory Sunday, he would become only the third golfer -- along with Woods and Northern Ireland's Darren Clark -- to win more than one World Golf Championships event.

Cink clinched The Presidents Cup for the Americans last fall at Royal Montreal when he opened with five straight birdies and beat Nick O'Hern 6 and 5. He also beat Sergio Garcia 4 and 3 in one of the few positives for the U.S. during the 2006 Ryder Cup -- which Cink says is his most "significant and meaningful" match play win so far.

"Stewie can light it up," Woods said. "I believe he did the same thing to Sergio at the K Club. He can make a bunch of birdies. He is one of the best putters out here. And he usually drives it pretty good. And anytime a person is a very good putter, it's always going to be you know it's going to be a good match."

Cink actually wishes he could take his match play mentality to the golf course when he's playing in a stroke play event. He feels he's more focused and he doesn't get ahead of himself like he might when he's battling a host of contenders.

"I'm learning a lot this week," he said.

At the same time, though, Cink knows he can't afford to get caught up in what Woods may or may not be doing on Sunday.

"They say match play is so different because you play your opponent,' Cink explained. "I don't buy into that at all. I think you still play the golf course. You do the best you can on every single shot.

"The lowest score wins, whether you add them up at the end or hole by hole. Lowest score wins. And you can't get the lowest score without playing the golf course to the best that you know how. I don't see why I shouldn't just do the same thing tomorrow."