When Stewart Cink tees off in the Open Championship on Thursday, he’ll be playing in the tournament for the 25th time. For Gordon Sargent and Davis Thompson, the 152nd Open Championship will be their first.
The golfers are former Alabama prep standouts – Cink at Bradshaw High School in Florence, Sargent at Mountain Brook High School and Thompson at Lee-Scott Academy in Auburn.
Cink won the Claret Jug in 2009 in one of the most unpopular victories in the Open’s history. Cink defeated 59-year-old, five-time Open champion Tom Watson in a four-hole playoff.
“More often than not, people are saying, ‘Why did you have to beat Tom Watson, my favorite golfer?’” Cink said. “To me it feels like it was yesterday. I know it was a lot longer than yesterday, and it’s a pretty fresh memory in people’s mind, too.”
Cink thinks his attitude played a key role in his victory.
“I wasn’t very hard on myself,” Cink told Golfweek.com. “Scoring was high; the course was tough. People ask me what was a key shot you hit? Whenever I think of the tournaments I’ve won, I always think of the bad shots I hit as the key shots because how you respond as opposed to heroic great shots. Everybody hits heroic great shots, but not everybody responds to their poor shots well. I remember on Saturday, I was up near the lead and hit it on the green in two on a par-5, on a downwind par-5 playing real easy. Had a pretty close eagle putt, maybe 15, 20 feet and took three putts. Missed a short putt, no more than 3 feet.
“I think under normal circumstances that would have been devastating, and it would have been hard to forgive myself. But that week I just did such a great job of telling myself, ‘That happens,’ and it just didn’t even faze me at all. It wasn’t even like a hiccup, and that’s the shot I remember being like a key shot at a key time. I think it was around the turn on Saturday, and I did not break my stride.”
Cink won his Open Championship at Turnberry. This year’s Open Championship will be played on another Scottish seaside course, Royal Troon.
The 51-year-old Cink will tee off in the first round at 2:47 a.m. CDT Thursday.
The 21-year-old Sargent will tee off at 4:20 a.m. Thursday. Sargent is among the 12 amateurs in the field, the most for the tournament since 1987.
This won’t be Sargent’s first taste of competitive links golf. Last year, Sargent helped the United States win the Walker Cup by sweeping his four matches at St. Andrews.
Thompson tees off at 8:15 a.m. Thursday.
Thompson qualified for the tournament less than two weeks ago, when he won the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic on July 7.
Two other entrants with Alabama golf roots are in the Open Championship:
· Justin Thomas (Alabama) tees off at 1:52 a.m. Thursday. Thomas will be playing in the Open Championship for the eighth time. His best finish of 11th came in 2019.
· Matt Wallace (Jacksonville State) tees off at 2:03 a.m. Thursday. Wallace will be playing in the Open Championship for the fifth time. His best finish of 40th came in 2021.
The first round of the Open Championship will be televised on Thursday from 12:30 to 3 a.m. on Peacock, 3 a.m. to 2 p.m. on USA and 2 to 3:15 p.m. on Peacock.
Stories by Mark Inabinett
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at@AMarkG1.