THE MODERATOR: Stewart Cink is with us now at the 2026 Senior PGA Championship. Stewart, 5-under 67 for you today. What did you like about your second round?
STEWART CINK: Well, I think the only difference really between today and yesterday was that today I just holed a few putts. Yesterday I just grazed the edges all day. It really was very similar.
Two bogeys today. You know, obviously you'd like to clean those up, but you know, all in all it was pretty good golf, and I would take days like today pretty much every day for the rest of my career and be happy, because there's going to be some days that yield some low scores on days like this, and there's not going to be too many over-par rounds.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Between yesterday and today one par, six birdies, one eagle on the par-5s. Kind of proves what you were saying at the beginning of the week about getting closer and using the distance in your favor, no?
STEWART CINK: Yeah, that's true. Thinking back to the par-5s, there's three of the holes where I hit driver. I don't hit a lot of drivers on this course, but three of the holes are par-5s. I've hit the fairway all but one of those. So making those holes play a little easier just by driving it a little further.
But really the par-5 play is about a lot more -- there's more strategy involved than just hitting it far. You have to keep it in play, first of all. Also, you have to be really good about where you leave your second shots.
My caddie, Chris, and I have worked pretty hard on a good par-5 game plan over the last month or so and implemented kind of a new game plan on par-5s. It's yielded some -- I made a double eagle, so obviously the game plan is working (laughing).
No, it's been paying off. The idea on the par-5s really is like the quality of your third shot as far as where you leave your ball, how easy the shot is, that's how you really can wreck those par-5 holes. That's really kind of what we're focusing on trying to do.
Part of that off the tee, yeah, is distance, but it's also keeping it in play and being really smart about where we aim and what distance we're trying to hit on second shots.
Q. Stewart, there's a decent chance someone is going to have to come down to 18 on Sunday and make a good number. Just talk about what makes that hole so difficult.
STEWART CINK: Well, I have made two bogeys on that hole, so I'm still trying to figure out how to make a 4 there. I think the reason it's a difficult hole is because, number one, it's pretty long. Number two, you have a really, really long second shot into that hole.
Because of the way the fairway bunkers are positioned, if you drive it in the intended area from the tee, then you're going to have a 5-, 6-iron. Guys in my group have been pulling the head cover off with hybrids in there. The green has a lot of waves, and it's hard to get the ball into an aggressive position for a birdie putt.
So it's like a lot of the par-4s out here. Where the bunkering is and how the bunkers pinch in the fairway, it leaves you really far back on the approach shots. So you've got some long approaches here when you are not able to necessarily hit driver off the tee. That makes the hole just really difficult to score.
Q. What clubs did you hit in each day?
STEWART CINK: I hit a 6-iron in yesterday, and today my drive was a little bit more down the right center, which gives you more -- a shorter angle to the hole, and I hit 7-iron.
But on PGA TOUR Champions I'm not hitting too many 7-irons into par-4s after good drives. I didn't hit a very good second shot, and it left myself in an awkward place to make par. On the green, but in an awkward spot and three-putted. It was kind of a wasted shot there.
I think it comes down to distance on some of these approaches as the reason it's hard to make good scores on some of these holes.
Q. Tell me about the eagle on 17, and is that a hole that calls for eagle every day?
STEWART CINK: It's a hole where eagle is going to be out there every day, yeah. You've got a big decision to make off the tee on that hole. You can carry it over all the bunkers at about 270, but if you -- you want to be a like medium-length hitter off that tee and be able to carry your driver, like, 275, 280, because if you are more like 290, 300, the water comes in fast from the left and, it pinches in.
I can't hit a driver there. I got to hit it down the left side and lay up. I'm hitting a hybrid off that tee.
Today I hit a good hybrid and left myself a 4-iron to the green. I hit an okay shot on the green, but again, like 18, I put myself on the wrong side of one of these huge knobs. It's just that I happened to make that one from about -- it was at least 45 feet up and over this elephant's back with about 10 feet of break.
Q. What's that read like to go over that back and whatever else break is in there?
STEWART CINK: You break those putts down into two parts, at least I do. You kind of look at what it's going to do once it reaches the top of the mound. From there to the hole you kind of come up with a speed and a break, and what do you have to do to get it to that point going up the hill, and you kind of break it down into two parts and kind of give yourself the semi-target up on top of the mound and let the ball go right through that gate. Then it's on its second journey in.
That one happened to be perfect. As soon as it came off the club, I was, like, oh, yeah, this is the right speed, and it got up to the top, and it took a big break, and it just was never missing.
Q. You've already had such success the season coming into the Senior PGA. Is there a part of your game that you feel is giving you a winning edge at this point maybe in your career?
STEWART CINK: Probably off the tee. I've been just in play, and I'm using some power. It just makes golf courses easier when you keep it in play and you drive it fairly long, and that's what I've been doing well for about the last half a year.
That's a pretty marked difference from my career as a whole where I really was not that straight of a hitter. I've just been working hard, as always, but my coach and I have gotten my off-the-tee game a little bit more neatened up. I'm able to use the ball speed and the carry and the height and all that stuff a little bit more to my advantage, because I'm coming from the fairway more often.
So I actually keep my stats, and I dive in pretty deep on that. Driving is playing a pretty big role in low scores for me right now. It's not just a putting contest. It's not just the chip-ins and all that stuff. It's actually driving is making the courses play easier, and I'm taking advantage of it. I think driving has been a key.
Q. The weekend calls for no rain, warm temperatures. What do you expect from the conditions out there on the weekend?
STEWART CINK: I think the conditions are going to probably -- they'll probably stay the same from tee to green, and the greens may just continue to just get a little bit more baked out. The course is in just unbelievable condition. It's so nice. They've managed the course really well.
The fairways are running, but if the course runs too much, then pace of play can be an issue because the balls just get all over the place. They've managed it nicely, so the ball is running, but it's not out of control.
The weekend we're only going to have half the players, and they have an opportunity maybe to squeeze the course a little bit more. I don't know if they will, but it's out there if they want to.
The course is a phenomenal course. It's really good. It's a very good course, And it's fun. You know, there's a lot of shots out there that they really get your attention.
One of my friends at home when I told them we were going to play this tournament at Concession, he said, Oh, you mean "Concussion." So it has a nickname. I don't think that's something he made up.
Q. Oh, it does.
STEWART CINK: I can see how. It's going to be fun, though. This course takes a lot of discipline. There's a lot of times out there when you have to be conservative, and shots may look like, oh, that's a pretty poor shot, but it's actually an excellent shot, because you can only do as much as the course gives you.
Q. They're probably going to move 12 up tomorrow or Sunday. A drivable par-4, is that something that makes you lick your chops?
STEWART CINK: It's all about strategy. I know where the tee is playing, and if they move it up to that 4 tee, it's not like it's going to be, oh, this is a power hitter's dream. No, everybody is going to be able to reach that green. It's probably going to be not even a driver for a lot of people.
It's all going to be about how much discipline can you show and planning, you know, around where you want to leave that ball, because it basically becomes like a par-5 second shot where it's all about where you leave your tee ball for your next shot.
You can get out of position pretty easily on that hole. The hole gets difficult really fast. It will be a lot of fun. That's something that I wish Champions Tour would actually do that more on our regular events is give us some more drivable holes and some excitement like that, but we don't see it that often. So I hope they do it.
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