


Editor's note: Stewart Cink has been doing a weekly blog for PGATOUR.com during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. He shot 65 on Sunday at Cog Hill to tie for seventh in the BMW Championship -- and in doing so, Cink played his way into THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola next week in his adopted hometown of Atlanta. Cink, who climbed eight spots to No. 24 in the FedExCup standings, filed another blog on Sunday afternoon.
LEMONT, Ill. -- Someone asked me what made me happier: shooting 68-65 on the weekend or playing so well under the pressure of trying to make the final Playoff event.

I'd have to say it's definitely performing well under the pressure; under the circumstances. Being on the outside looking in is not an enviable position for a golfer at any stage. Whenever you're on the outside of looking in, it stinks.
So today, to come out here and basically know I needed to at least hold my position to get into THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola and to go out there and start the way I did, 5 under through eight holes, felt really good.
I know I've got a lot of talent. I know I can compete with anyone out here. And today was an example of what can happen if you just stay out of your own way. It was a lot of fun out there.
I really didn't think about my position very much. I didn't think that I could get any information about where I stood in the projected standings -- even if I wanted to -- while I was out there on the course.
If you look at the electronic scoreboards you've got to be lucky to find exactly the frame that gives the projections, and we've got too much to do out there to be standing there and looking at the scoreboards anyway. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of times that I was in seventh place or fourth place or ninth place ... whatever.
I didn't let that bother me. I treated it like I had a job to do and tried to get as many birdies as I could. I stuck it in the bunker on No. 18 -- that's been my nemesis the last two days -- but once I got there, I was able to relax a little, although I didn't want to make that bogey. All in all, it was a pretty good day.
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Video: Cink's post-round interview
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As soon as I got to the scorer's tent, I asked someone how things looked, and they said I was 24th. I had looked at the list briefly last night and saw where I needed about 450 points to pass No. 29.
The reason I was focused on passing 29th was because Jonathan Byrd was 30th and he was playing well. He looked like he was going to move up, and he did. So I figured I needed to finish around 20-25th in the tournament, unless I tied with like a dozen people.
I was 13th starting the day, so I knew as long as I stayed where I was or better, I should be OK. But for the tournament's sake, I didn't want to coast in here and give myself something to stress out over the last few holes.
I wanted to go out there and get it going, and that was what I was able to do.
What I liked about the way I played today was that while I didn't play great, I managed a good score.
Thursday I played really, really well and shot 5 under. Today, I didn't have it going great, but I managed myself around the golf course well. That's the big difference between guys who are 20th, 30th, 50th in the Official World Golf Ranking and guys in the top 10. The guys in the top 10 seem to shoot 1, 2, 3 under even on their bad days.
They just manage themselves around the golf course so well. Today was a good example for me. If anything, I taught myself you don't have to be perfect. You don't have to go out there and hit everything perfect to shoot a good score.
You can go out there and play the golf course and see what it gives you and go along for the ride. That's what I did today and what I plan to do next week at East Lake.