Cink clinches win with closing 65

Stewart Cink always had a reason to miss the MCI Classic. Now, he's got a reason not to.

Cink, playing Harbour Town for the first time, shot a 6-under 65 today to overcome a four-stroke deficit as Ernie Els and Davis Love III faltered.

Cink committed to the tournament every year, but always had to withdraw.

"One year my wife had surgery. One year we had a child the week before," said Cink, who won $540,000 for his second career PGA Tour victory. "Then one year I pulled out from just being tired and didn't want to come down. That was probably the biggest mistake I've made since I've been on Tour."

After Cink's marvelous final round, it's easy to see why. He improved each day -- 71, 68, 66, 65 -- and birdied three of the last four holes to steal a title that looked like it was in Els's pocket.

Cink trailed by four after Els's tap-in birdie on the sixth hole. But the South African had five bogeys the rest of the way to scuttle his apparent victory.

"Yeah, I played terrible," said Els, who closed with a 74 to finish five shots behind Cink. "I don't know what to say."

Cink's charge also overtook Tom Lehman, who shot a 65 to jump from 12th to second.

Masters winner Vijay Singh shot a 64 to tie for third with Els, Love, Larry Mize, Edward Fryatt, and first-round leader Dan Forsman.

"I wish I had played in this every year now," said Cink, whose other victory came in the 1997 Greater Hartford Open. "This sure is a week to remember."

Or one to forget, if you're Els or Love.

The two were ahead of the field and seemingly in command after Saturday's round. Els was at 12-under and cruising with two remarkable saves -- he parred the fifth hole after hitting three bunkers made a 1-foot birdie putt on the sixth.

But Els's game came apart after he stubbed a chip on the eighth hole that led to a bogey. He flopped on a flop shot three holes later for another bogey, his third in five holes. Els pushed a 6-foot par putt wide on the par-3 14th and was never in it again.

"I think the bogey on 8 kind of got to me a little bit," he said. "I started looking at the scoreboards."

What he saw was Cink and Lehman moving up.

Cink had birdies on the sixth, eighth and ninth holes and turned just a shot behind Els.

"I knew after the front nine, I could have a shot at making a charge," Cink said. "But I wanted to make sure I was pushing forward."

He did that when it counted. Cink slipped in an 8-foot putt for birdie on the 15th, a 6-footer for birdie to take the lead on the 16th. On the 18th, needing a par to win -- with Lehman practicing putts in hopes of a playoff -- Cink hit his approach shot 20 feet from the flag and rolled that in for his victory.

Lehman was surprised he had a shot at the championship. His front-nine 31 left him two behind Els and a birdie on the 17th gave him a one-stroke lead. But he barely missed a 17-foot putt on the final hole and headed to the practice range to loosen up.

Lehman said Cink, who was an All-American at Georgia Tech, is underappreciated.

"I think if you do your history on Stewart, you know what he accomplished in college and what he's accomplished so far on the tour, you realize that this is an awfully fine golf man," Lehman said.

Love looked like he would have a chance at his fifth MCI title as he got within two of Els, his playing partner the previous three days. But bogeys on the sixth and seventh holes took him out of the running.

"I started good, then I played bad all the way to 18," Love said.

Singh's play finally had him looking like the latest golfer with a green jacket in his closet. He had five birdies on the front nine to nose his way on to the leaderboard. He came up short, however, meaning no Augusta winner since Bernhard Langer in 1985 has followed with a victory at Harbour Town.

"Today, it was fun," Singh said. "Too bad I ran out of holes."

DIVOTS: Love, who lost by five shots, played Nos. 8-10 in 4-over Saturday and Sunday. ... Rich Beem had to withdraw after a bizarre accident between the eighth green and ninth tee. A golf cart drove through a heavy rope and fence stakes that then struck Beem. It was painful enough to send him to a hospital. He was released in good condition. ... Defending MCI champion Glen Day, who shot 274 and made birdie on the first playoff hole to win in 1999, was finished before the lead groups took off, shooting a 2-over 286. ... Dudley Hart's front-nine 31 included five 3s, four in a row.

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