By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents

AKRON, Ohio -- There was a time, in the not-so-distant past, when Stewart Cink would beat himself up over the mistakes he made on the golf course.

He was scared of missing a short putt for par. He worried inordinately about hitting the ball in the rough. He let the scores he shot and his position on the money list dictate how he felt about himself, and it wasn't good.

No more.

"I really tried to grasp the fear and figure out why I'm afraid," Cink said. "Why is a golfer afraid of a three-footer when it really is just a ball going into a hole or not? What it boils down to, is sense of self issues."

Cink's self-confidence skyrocketed on a sun-kissed Sunday after he won the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club by four strokes over Rory Sabbatini and Tiger Woods, who kept his No. 1 ranking for the 333rd week.

The victory was Cink's second of the season and fourth of his career, and came exactly seven days after Hal Sutton named him to complete his Ryder Cup team.

"My confidence is at an all-time high in my career right now," Cink said, positively beaming. "It means so much to me to win in this style, starting with the lead and re-pairing every day and all these rain delays.

"It seemed like I played about five tournaments this week because there was so much going on."

Not only did he beat a standout field of the best players from around the globe, Cink showed no fear as he broke a 0-for-6 jinx when owning the 54-hole lead, which in this case was five strokes. His wire-to-wire victory was the first on the PGA TOUR in 2004.

"It’s probably more nerve-wracking than sleeping with a one-shot lead or being tied because everybody expects you to win, and the only other thing you can do is pretty much mess up," said Cink, who finished at 11-under 269.

"I tried to downplay it yesterday, but I knew that it was there. It's not something that’s really bothered me, but I was aware of it. So it means a lot to me now to not have the monkey on my back.

"I can be a frontrunner like anybody else, and I can polish it off."

Sabbatini closed within two strokes on the back nine Sunday, but Cink refused to crumble. After a bogey on the 10th hole, Cink was a rock as he reeled off seven straight pars and a closing birdie to assure himself of victory.

"It was a tough day out there, not because of the weather, the weather was beautiful, but the golf course was really tough today," he said. "The pins were tucked. The greens were fast. Fast greens and nervous golfers don't mix too well."

For Cink, though, it was an "excited nervous" and not a "scared nervous." His work with a Florida "brain guy" -- a traditional therapist, not a sports psychologist, Cink is quick to point out -- has taught him the difference between the two.

Cink played within himself on Sunday and focused on the task at hand. By the time he came to the 18th hole, Cink said his 7-iron was jumping out of his bag and he staked the shot to 15 feet, secure in the knowledge he could three-putt and still win.

"It's just indescribable how good it feels," Cink said. "I've been watching the NEC here at Firestone since I was a little kid, and I remember all the great finishes. To see myself envisioning that and feeling the wind on my skin and hearing the trees and seeing the grass and everything, it's something I'll never, ever forget."

Sabbatini was the only player who threated Cink on Sunday. He made three straight birdies on the front side and added another at the 14th to narrow the gap to two. But a pair of bogeys coming home, coupled with Cink's steady play, ended his bid.

"I was going for birdies and trying to put myself in a position to challenge Stewart," Sabbatini said. "But I knew that the way he's been playing, he's been playing solid, hitting the ball solid and obviously he's had the putter working for him.

"If you get those characteristics going for you on this course, it's going to be tough to challenge him -- let alone catch him. I went out there to do what I could, and that was what I could throw out there."

Sabbatini was proud of himself, though -- particularly considering he didn't break par at Firestone last year in his first appearance at the NEC Invitational. Not to mention, on Wednesday, he was hitting the ball so poorly, Sabbatini said, "You would have been wondering what tour I played on -- definitely not the PGA TOUR.

"But I got myself back on track and got myself to focus more on what I wanted to do more than what I didn't want to do. After the way I played this week, there's definitely a lot of positives coming out of it."

Woods said his second-place finish was a testament to the fact that "I fight." The three-time winner of the NEC Invitational never found his comfort zone on the Robert Trent Jones Jr. layout although he kept his streak of never finishing lower than fourth alive.

Ditto for his 263rd consecutive week at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking. PGA champion Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, both of whom could have mathematically overtaken Woods at Firestone, finished tied for 32nd and 65th, respectively.

"I wish I would have won the tournament," said Woods, who won the Accenture Match Play Championship earlier this year but has yet to capture a stroke-play event in 2004. "The No. 1 ranking always takes care of itself with wins, and that's one thing I've always believed in."

Notes

• With his tie for second finish, Woods has 11 top-10s in 16 starts on the TOUR this year, third behind Phil Mickelson (13) and Singh (12). In his six-year career at the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational, Woods has three wins and three finishes of tied for fourth or better.

• Cink is now 1-7 when he holds a 54-hole lead on the PGA TOUR (0-1 majors).

• Cink became the first wire-to-wire victor on the TOUR in 2004, and the first since Love did so at the 2003 INTERNATIONAL. Woods won the 2000 NEC Invitational in wire-to-wire fashion when he won by 11 strokes over Justin Leonard and Phillip Price at Firestone Country Club. In terms of WGC events, Woods also won the 2002 American Express Championship wire-to-wire.

• Lee Westwood became just the ninth player in NEC Invitational history to post all four rounds in the 60s, shooting 69-69-69-69--276. Last year, Jim Furyk and Robert Allenby posted four sub-70 rounds.

• With his top-10 finish at Firestone Country Club in 2004, Woods is the only player to record top 10s in all six NEC Invitationals. Furyk entered this week with five top-10s at the NEC Invitational but finished tied for 22nd.

• In the history of the NEC Invitational dating back to 1999, five of six 54-hole leaders or co-leaders have won the event, including Darren Clarke last year. Twenty-seven of 34 54-hole leaders on the TOUR this year have gone on to record victories, including the last six consecutive.

• Clarke, the defending champion, quietly had a solid week, posting rounds of 71-70-68-68—277 to finish tied for 14th.

• Eight of the 13 players in the final top-10 this week posted their first career top-10s at the NEC Invitational. Bob Tway (T6) posted a top-10 in his first career NEC Invitational start. Here's a look at this week's top-10 in terms of the NEC Invitational:

• Woods, by completing four rounds this week, extends his streak of made record-number of made cuts on the TOUR to 130. Among these 130 starts have been 27 "no-cut" events, the Mercedes Championships, Accenture Match Play Championship, NEC Invitational, American Express Championship and THE TOUR Championship Presented by Coca-Cola. It should be noted that Woods has won 10 of the 27 "no-cut" events and finished in the top 10 in 13 others for a total of 23 top-10s in 27 starts.

•Love, with his paycheck of $282,500 for his tie for fourth finish this week, eclipsed $3 million for the season. He is the third player ever to earn $3 million without winning in that season, joining David Toms (2002, $3,459,740) and Singh (2001, $3,440,829).

• With his paycheck of $552,500 for a tie for second finish, Woods passed the $4 million barrier for a TOUR-record sixth consecutive season.

--Joel Schuchmann, PGA TOUR Staff