Stewart Cink Brightens Florida's Friendliest Home Town

Waggle Room reader Joe Lavore was in The Villages, Florida, for a demo that Open Champion Stewart Cink conducted in the town.  The following is his report.  See pro golfers in action and want to tell Waggle Room about it?  Send us an email with your story, photos, and more!

The life of a Tour player can be hectic.  Stewart Cink, reigning British Open champion and The Villages' favorite son, had a busy day today. His day started much the same as any other Tuesday on a Tour player’s schedule: loosening up on the range, working on shot shaping, doing putting drills and working on his stroke on the putting green. After the warm up, CInk was to play a practice round at Bay Hill in preparation for this weeks Tour stop.

Most Tour pros would finish up by either working out or heading back to the range to work on different scenarios they encountered on the course during the day. For Cink, his next order of business was to make the trip from Orlando to The Villages - Florida’s friendliest home town -  for a Nike demo event.

Stewart was greeted by several hundred fans and a two club, left to right wind. He started out much like he would at any range by hitting wedges and gradually working his way through the bag, until finally hitting driver.

While hitting he explained his methods for playing against Mother Nature on the golf course, explaining that he felt more comfortable working shots into the wind rather than riding the wind. His reason? A shot hit into the wind will stop quicker than a shot allowed to ride the wind. He worked shots from left to right, and right to left to make his point.

He then took questions from the audience and told stories from life on Tour. After he was done, he made his way to the putting green where four names were drawn to go head-to-head with the Open Champion in a putting contest. Before the contest began he made his way around the green to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. It was amazing to watch him. He is a genuinely nice guy and seemed to enjoy every minute of it, making sure not to leave anyone out.

Three men and one woman were chosen for the contest and the battle began. Prizes were given out to the winners and then more pictures and autographs, interviews, and the like.

Around 5:00 PM, Cink was finally finished. Stewart was escorted out to the parking lot where he would meet his parents for dinner and then head back to Orlando. What a day for a Tour player.

We as fans often think Tour players live a life of luxury and excess, and to some extent that may be true, however upon closer inspection, life of a tour player can be hectic.