{"id":543345,"date":"2026-04-21T19:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543345\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:16:14","slug":"this-green-reading-tweak-helped-stewart-cink-win-1st-senior-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543345\/","title":{"rendered":"This green-reading tweak helped Stewart Cink win 1st senior major"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stewart Cink<\/a> won his first senior major title over the weekend \u2014 in dominant fashion. With rounds of 69-67-70-63, Cink ran away from the field at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., posting 19 under for a six-shot victory over runner-up Ben Crane.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo win a tournament like this, back to four rounds on a golf course like this, full field \u2014 this trophy is so heavy can hardly pick it up \u2014 it feels great,\u201d Cink said. \u201cIt\u2019s just validating what I\u2019m doing with my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cink was excellent all week on the way to his maiden senior major victory, but it was the final round that put an exclamation point on the week. With seven birdies and an eagle, the 52-year-old cruised to a bogey-free 63.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was just one of the best rounds I\u2019ve played as a professional golfer,\u201d Cink said. \u201cIt was just really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Really good may be an understatement. With seven birdies and an eagle \u2014 and no bogeys \u2014 Cink\u2019s round was the best in the field by three shots Sunday, and five better than any other competitor finishing in the top 10.<\/p>\n

His sublime final round was no accident. According to Cink, after his third round in which he posted a two-under 70, he headed to the practice green to clean some things up with his short game. That\u2019s when found something in his green reading that was game-changing.<\/p>\n

Cink\u2019s green-reading tweak<\/p>\n

When Cink went to the practice green Saturday night, he wasn\u2019t searching for a magic fix in his game; he\u2019d played solidly through three rounds. But he did notice that he\u2019d been missing a majority of his putts on the low side (aka below the hole).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0just kind of went back to a few basics and changed my philosophy on reading the greens just a hair,\u201d Cink said. \u201cAdded some break today, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all it took. By playing a little more break on Concession\u2019s difficult greens than he initially saw, he poured in putt after putt in what he called \u201cone of [his] best putting days of the last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

How over-reading can help you<\/p>\n

Recreational golfers can learn a lot from Cink\u2019s Saturday-night epiphany. According to research<\/a> from GOLF Top 100 Teacher<\/a> Eric Alpenfels, 96 percent of golfers under-read their putts by more than 60 percent. That means that nine in 10 times you see your playing partner line up for a putt, he or she will miss it on the low side.<\/p>\n

When you miss below the hole, your ball has zero chance of going in. Plus, when the ball gets below the hole, it gets further from the hole as it rolls out. Both of these things are bad for your putting stats \u2014 and, ultimately, your scores.<\/p>\n

So, next time you line up for a putt, take a page out of Cink\u2019s putt and play for a little more break. Chances are, it\u2019ll put your ball in a much better position to go in the hole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stewart Cink won his first senior major title over the weekend \u2014 in dominant fashion. With rounds of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-543345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}