Cink holds off Mahan and Armour to win Travelers Championship

6/23/2008

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) -- Stewart Cink had a reputation as a good golfer who just couldn't finish off a tournament.

His collapse during the fourth round of the PODS Championship in March left him with just one victory in the nine career events where he had the lead going into the last day.

On Sunday, he put that behind him, holding off a late charges from Tommy Armour III and defending champion Hunter Mahan to Win the Travelers Championship by a stroke.

Cink shot a 3-under 67 -- following rounds of 66, 64 and 65 -- to finish at 18 under for his fifth career victory and first since 2004. Armour (65) and Mahan (65) tied for second.

Cink earned his first career win here as a rookie, and came into the day with a two-stroke lead over Heath Slocum.

He finished with a career-best 262 over the four rounds, five shots better than his 1997 total of 267. It was his first win after six top-10 finishes this year, earning him $1.08 million. It also pushed him to third place in the FedExCup standings behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and into second place in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.

Leaderboard – Final:

1.  Stewart Cink                     USA 66 64 65 67 262 -18
2.  Hunter Mahan                   USA 68 63 67 65 263 -17
     Tommy Armour III            USA 69 64 65 65 263 -17
4.  Heath Slocum                   USA 67 66 64 67 264 -16
5.  Vijay Singh                        FIJ 66 68 64 68 266 -14
6.  Michael Allen                     USA 69 66 68 64 267 -13
     Bubba Watson                   USA 66 68 67 66 267 -13
     Brad Adamonis                  USA 64 68 68 67 267 -13
     Kenny Perry                      USA 66 67 65 69 267 -13
10. Michael Leitzig                  USA 68 68 63 69 268 -12
     Kevin Streelman                USA 73 63 62 70 268 -12

Source: AP, PGA Tour