When golfer Stewart Cink gazed into the sunglasses of an adjacent reporter, the image that was reflected back was of facial features that looked as if an attempt had been made to white them out with caked-on sunscreen.
Reminders of how cancer has challenged the Cink family, it seems, are never very far away these days. Even at the golf course.
If it isn’t a bout with basal-cell carcinoma on his nose, it is his wife Lisa’s nearly three-year battle with breast cancer.
Between them, the experiences have inspired a new, wider perspective and determination that he carries with him to tournaments such as the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he is tied for third place heading into today’s third round at Waialae Country Club.
Cink, who shot an 8-under-par 62 Friday powered by nine birdies, has a two-round 130, four stokes behind leader Matt Kuchar and three behind second-place Andrew Putnam.
But his climb up the leaderboard is only part of his story these days. “I wake up a little bit different every day now knowing what we have been through and how it felt,” said Cink, the 2009 British Open winner. “Those memories will never go away. So it does give me quite a different perspective out here on the golf course knowing that golf — while it is really important (to me) — is not life or death.”
The 45-year-old Cink said, “I think it took the ‘need’ factor out of golf a little bit, which has been (a) help for me for my mind-set. When you’re playing out here because you need to play well, it’s not really a healthy way for most of us to perform.”
But what has really resonated has been the courage and grace displayed by his wife in her struggle that has entered remission. “She is not out of the woods, but she’s doing great,” Cink said.
Her journey “… inspired me when she was in chemo, when I saw her, what she was going through (from) the very beginning of her discovery, of what she was fighting what she has,” Cink said. “I just saw her dig really deep for something inside that a lot of people would never discover they had inside them without something like that.”
After taking a leave from the PGA Tour in 2016 to support his wife, Cink said, he returned with a stronger, more focused mind-set. “I just kind of saw her do it and thought, ‘Well, if she can dig down like that, then maybe I can dig down a little bit deeper and figure out a little bit more about what I’m doing in golf and make these traveling weeks count a little more.’ ”
Cink said, “I’m 45. At the time I was 43. The calendar anymore doesn’t really tell you that you have to stop being a really competitive golfer. I have plenty of power and I know what it takes to compete and be successful out here. And, so, I had to look myself in the mirror. But it inspired me to dig deeper and fight a little bit differently. It had a pretty big impact on my game.”
Ten months ago Cink confronted his own health issues after noticing a patch on the right side of his nose “was acting a little funny. (I) talked to my dermatologist about it and he biopsied it and, sure enough, it had to come out.”
Since undergoing surgery and a topical form of chemotherapy, Cink said the area “is super sensitive to the sun right now. I’ve got to keep it covered up. I don’t care what it looks like for the time being.”
For him, what you see on the outside barely hints at the changes that have taken place on the inside.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
