Stewart Cink on talking w/Rory McIlroy after career grand slam, tips for amateurs & more

All right, Garrett Johnson here with Stuart Sink, PGA Tour champions. Here we are again, new event here in Pennsylvania. How cool is it to be out here? It's really cool. I like going to new events. There's always a lot of energy. Um, it's just, it's a good feeling to know that there's a community and a sponsor that like wants PGA Tour champions and professional golf, you know, as a whole, to be, uh, present in a new way. So it's good for our schedule. Um, the areas, like I said, it's just, uh, there's a lot of excitement and energy here, the Perry's party last night was, uh, pretty lit, a lot of people. So, um, everybody's excited and the golf course is really fun to play. I think it's a perfect venue for PGA Tour champions. And so, um, it's our job now to put on a good show and, and, uh, the sponsor, I think it's gonna be really happy. And, uh, the fans around this area, you know, we're, we're kind of, we're in a small town, but we're in between a lot of big towns. So there's quite a lot of people live around here. So, um, just another chance to, uh, get exposed to professional golf and we'll do some high fiving along the way. Totally. Jefferson Lehigh Valley classic here in Lehigh, uh, country club. And you know, it's funny, like you too, while you get to a champions players, your peers, who would be one of the funniest guys to caddy for you? If you had a chance that you would use one of your peers to caddy. One of my player peers to back to caddy just for a fun round of golf. Oh man. Oh gosh. Well, Perez, Pat Perez. I mean, I think he's pretty much like full-time caddy at heart anyway. So, um, I just, I love playing with Pat and, uh, he's not quite full-time out here yet because he's still serving a suspension, but he'll get out here and he's a good friend. So, um, I'm looking forward to him. He's got great personality and just the way he comments on his shots. And he's just so like, Pat Perez is anti-Pat Perez all day long. So, um, it would be funny to have him caddy and see what he'd say about, about your own shots. I love that. Well, you know, one thing you and I, one of the last times we got together, or I saw you was at Fort Rush last year at the open championship. And I remember you on that Wednesday at the open, you hit balls next to Rory McIlroy. You guys had a nice exchange for a few minutes. So of course he was coming out having won the career grand slam at that point at the Mounted Journal that year. What was that conversation like? Well, the main thing I remember is telling him like how proud I was for him that he, uh, followed through on that and won because it's just something not many people have done. I mean, that doesn't really need to be stated. It's pretty understood by everybody. Um, the thing that struck me about the moment when he, um, when he won was, uh, he probably faced the one putt with the single most pressure in the history of golf, and that was the par putt on 18, which was about a, uh, I may not remember exactly, right, but it was about a five footer, maybe six feet outside, right, a lot of break to the left with all that riding on it. I name a putt that had more pressure on it than that. You can't in all history in the history of golf. I think that was probably the putt. You know, everybody wants Rory to win. He's so likable. Um, he's, you know, there's not that many players over the history of game that are well-liked by the public and by the peers, you know, there's sometimes there's a little bit of a difference between the two groups, Lori's very well-liked and, um, embraced by all groups and for good reason. And so, uh, I just wanted him to understand that that's how I felt about it. You know, I don't know if anybody else told him that or not, but I thought that putt was incredibly high pressure pack. And of course what happened, he, he went into a playoff because he didn't make the right. But I just thought, you know, it's worth saying like, Hey, it was a hard, but that was a hard, but I don't think many people watching golf can understand how much pressure that was and how he would have felt over that putt. So, um, for him to go on through that miss and then win in the playoff with all that right now, it was pretty awesome. That's what I told him. Well, speaking of pressure, I mean, a lot of amateurs at home feel pressure when they're, when they're playing golf. You've mentioned in the past, learning and growing is still so important to a round of golf. You know what I mean? Like taking the, the good takeaways from it, like how would you count on that? Well, I think, um, it comes, it really comes down to the way the brain works. You know, um, the brain doesn't really build like little files for successes. It's more about warning you about future traumas and assaults and failures. And I think it's important to learn through your rounds. Um, that's one thing about golf is it's so great about teaching us stuff like this, that a lot of people would just never really get to learn about themselves. But, um, you have to really put everything into perspective and, and, and you have to kind of talk to your own mind about how you're going to filter these things and how you're going to, uh, process these little experiences that sort of add up the big experiences. You know, like, you know, we talked about Rory on that putt and how he could have, he could have taken that miss putt on the 72nd hole when everything was riding on it and then like, Oh, it's over, you know? Um, but he didn't obviously. And he processed it really well. And that's one of the hardest things to do about pressure is process it the correct way that if you're, um, you're, you're, you're, you're conscious, you're subconscious is constantly scanning the environment to, um, keep you safe, whether you're playing golf or whether you're walking through a crowded street or traffic, or, you know, you're a bike and it doesn't matter because, um, uh, a failure or a lack of safety or a threat is the same, no matter if it's someone with a knife or if it's a missed five foot putt that matters to you, your brain treats it the same way. So it's important, I think, to go back and sort of like understand the circumstances and try to learn and grow your way through that without building a whole bunch of files, because in reality, we know that there is a pretty big difference between a five foot putt and a knife on the subway or, uh, you know, uh, a truck honking his horn and about to run you over, there's a big difference in that, but the, the, the mind treats so similar in similar ways. And so, um, it's important to sort of separate like, okay, this is golf. This is a game where this golf ball goes. Yeah. It does mean a lot to me and to the other guys and gals that play in the pros and to those at home too. It means a lot to us, but it's not a life or death thing. So there's no reason for the brain to create these threat files. You mentioned also to that point, a lot of process and preparation that you have a peace of mind now. And it's been this way for many, many years, but when you go to the course, you're not so defined on the results and the way the ball is going. Where did that change in your career? Uh, when did it change? Um, it probably changed when I got to a point where I was so frustrated by trying to control the results that I just gave up the reins at some point. Like this doesn't work. And, um, I had some coaching on the way I worked with a lot of guys. Um, and, and gals on like the mental side of golf. It's always been, uh, kind of a subject that's fascinated me anyway. So it's easy to, for me to like work with sports psychologists and talk things through them. But, um, definitely had some good coaching along the way. Uh, Jim Murphy was a guy I worked with, uh, for a while who kind of helped me with that. Like let's let aim higher. And I don't mean aim like in alignment. I'm talking about like what your goals are. Aim higher than a 65 or winning three times and making the Ryder cup team. Aim higher than that. Like who, who you want to be is going to end up being more important than what you do. And it's easy to get those things all mixed up, uh, because what you do can infect who you think you are, uh, especially when you're doing something at a really high level and public facing. So who you want to be is a way I think to, it's like a culture you have to build within yourself and your, your very close team, your caddy, your coaches, your spouse, and understand like, look, this is the way I want to do things. I want to put results. Now I'm not trying to like lie to myself and say the results are important, but it's a way to achieve those results that doesn't have to be directly going for the results you're going for the process who you want to be, uh, how do I want to uphold the culture and the standards that I want to choose to compete and live by and trusting that the work I put into it will lead to good results. Does that make sense? Oh yeah. That's a roundabout way to go for the results. Of course we all want results. That's where, you know, unfortunately our game is built on that. The scorecard matters and get there a lot of different ways, but, um, in the end, I think it's, it's how you get there. Last thing, the last two things as we wrap up, um, how excited are you to go back to the open at St. Andrews and then take away from watching the president's cup? Well, first of all, I mean, it goes without saying St. Andrews, it's my favorite place in the world to play golf. That's my favorite course. And playing the open at St. Andrews is like no other. It's just so, so fun. And it's just, it's a real sport when you play golf there. So, um, I always look forward to playing there. So the, I don't know how many I've played there. Five, maybe. So, um, it's just, it's a great, it's so good. And, um, I'll look forward to that for from now until it happens, it's going to be awesome. Um, takeaway from the president's cup. Uh, wow. The U S team really played a great singles, but, um, it seems like we still have a lot of questions unanswered in the other formats. So I wasn't really part of it this year. Um, so I'm going to have to get some downloads from some of the guys that were a part of it, but seeing it on television, um, it's just hard to put your finger on it, you know, when the international team played inspired golf, they played really well. And, uh, well, everybody talks about how the U S team, you know, is, uh, heavily favored and won all these matches and all that stuff. That international team has got excellent players. I mean, they're, they're so good professional golf. So the, now that it really can swing either way, we're not talking like March madness here, where, uh, a one versus a 16, you know, we're not talking about a one and 16 matchup here. These are, uh, these are very, uh, very closely contested matches and, um, little things on the fringes, intangibles make the difference. And, um, we still got some work to do to figure out what those are. Great stuff. Well, Stuart, always good to see you. All right, Garrett. All right.