In 2002, Stewart Cink changed more than just his putter. He changed the way he approached putting altogether.
Difficulties with a standard putter had caused him to change to a belly putter. The longer club shaft reaches to his chest when he leans over to putt. He also uses a "claw" grip, pushing the shaft by holding it between his right thumb and fingers.
The result at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship has been astounding.
He has made 5 of 9 from 20-25 feet and 65 of 72 from 10 feet in.
"I just stopped focusing so much on the results and I started focusing a lot more on the process, and just moving the putter through the ball," he said. "And just like with my full swing, and every player out here on the tour, when you make a good swing, the ball just gets in the way … and there it goes.
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"Well, it really should be the same on your putting. That's in a nutshell the way I sorta just, I started thinking that way instead of, 'Got to make this. Got to make this.' "
Tiger Woods — his opponent in today's final — has a different, but just as effective approach.
"There's only two things that are going to happen," he said. "You're either going to make or miss it."
Woods has made 66 of 73 from 10 feet in, and his penchant for clutch putts at The Gallery Golf Club's South Course is becoming legendary.
But Woods warned against Cink's putting prowess — a skill the Georgia Tech grad will need to pull off an upset.
"Any time a person is a very good putter, it's always going to be — you know it's going to be a good match," Woods said.
Stenson has incentive
Henrik Stenson ran into perhaps the only golfer who could beat him in Tucson.
The defending champion fell 2-up to Woods, marking the first time he has lost in 11 matches at Dove Mountain.
"It has been a good week, and there is another match there for me (today), don't forget," he said. "I will hopefully try and go out there and wrap that one up to finish third.
"But regardless of how it goes, I am still very happy with the way I played this week. Getting to the semifinals with little or no preparation coming into the week, I am happy about that."
Stenson has some motivation when he faces Justin Leonard in the consolation match — a $100,000 difference between third and fourth place.
Leonard was ready to shift his focus after losing to Cink 4 and 2 in part because he struggled trying to read the greens.
"Right now, I'm disappointed with this afternoon," he said. "I've got to get ready and come out and play (today) — and I'll start focusing on that in a couple of hours."
Chip shots
● Woods made Match Play sound like one of the hardest tournaments of the year.
"You've got to exclude the majors," he said. "But if you do, then I certainly put this right up there with one of the toughest events to win, just the fickleness of match play."
● Woody Austin birdied Nos. 16 and 17 to pull from 3-down to 1-down against Stenson in the morning round. But Stenson birdied 18 for the win.
"At least I made him finish," Austin said. "I'll take a little positive in that. At least I made him finish. But I'm still pretty upset with myself."
● With a victory today, Cink would become only the third golfer to win more than one World Golf Championships event. There have been 10 Match Play tournaments, eight CA Championships and nine Bridgestone Invitationals. Cink won the 2004 Bridgestone Invitational. Darren Clarke and Woods are the others with at least two — with Woods winning an astounding 14 times.
● Today will mark the ninth time in the event's 10 years an American has been in the final. Stenson faced Australian Geoff Ogilvy last year.
